"Infobesity" is afflicting many of us. We are offered a smorgasbord of information to consume every minute, every hour, every day, every week -- well, 24/7/365!
More data than ever is available to us thanks to the internet and storage technologies.
And if you facing a decision, you can research, catalog and arrange information (and rearrange it) into really impressive-looking reports!
Yes, information is important in the decision-making process. It can give you helpful facts about your target audience and customers.
And quality Information can help build confidence in your decision-making. Without accurate information about your target audience, ideal customers and the greatest problems they face, you can make some costly mistakes in creating and launching products and services.
But, if you are not careful, you can spend hours producing report after report, when none may actually get you any closer to making a decision. For example, ask yourself: Do I really need to see ten years of data instead of five? Do I need sales stats for the whole country if I am targeting a local market?
At some point, you must stop gathering and analyzing information and use what you have. And. . . make a decision.
When it comes to decision-making, you really want to avoid paralysis by analysis.
Eventually, you just have to decide and take a shot. Because, as hockey great Wayne Gretzky noted, this is guaranteed:
“You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take.”
So, don’t be a superhero when it comes to research and analysis. Resist the temptation to gather data that isn’t really necessary or unlikely to give you any greater insight. If it isn’t really going to help you in the decision you’re facing, save it for future decisions.
Then, after you make a decision, you’ll be able to review the results of it and gather additional information to help you make refinements for future analysis and decisions.
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NOTE: These tips are geared to you as a solopreneur. If you are gathering and analyzing information to produce reports for a manager or board, you can of course let them know that further research and analysis is always possible -- should they desire it. If they are the decision-makers and not you, then, they will, of course, be the final arbiters of when the analysis ends and decision-making begins.
But remember, when it comes to decision-making as a solopreneur, you want to guard against infobesity and avoid the all too common fate of paralysis by analysis.
References
Infobesity: the Enemy of Good Decisions
Death by Information Overload
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay