The 3 Question Decision Making Filter
One of the biggest challenges in business is wading through the sheer volume
of opportunity that you get on a monthly, weekly and sometimes even daily
basis.
It’s like there are so many projects that we could do that it can be paralysing.
A few years ago, I worked with an associate that would constantly call me with
new ideas. This guy was just so incredibly creative which was fantastic.
Problem was, without a big team of people to implement new ideas, often the
new ideas came as a distraction to our core business or what we SHOULD be
focussing on to continue to grow.
It was at that time that I came up with a 3 question filter to help determine if an
idea is worth pursuing or not.
I didn’t want to shut my associate down so I simply asked these three questions
and more times than not it was a great way for us BOTH to determine if we
should push forward with something or not.
You can apply these three questions to almost any opportunity that you are working
on especially if you are a smaller operation without a heap of resources and more
importantly want to make sure you stay on track.
The three questions are…
Will this opportunity make us money in the next 30 days?
Will this opportunity dovetail into what we are already doing?
Will it be fun?
Let’s look at each question individually…
Will this opportunity make us money in the next 30 days?
Often we underestimate how long an opportunity will take to bear fruit. And if you
are a smaller operation and have limited resources, often pursuing an opportunity
that has a long lead time can cause a short term opportunity cost
Will this opportunity dovetail into what we are already doing?
This is also a great question, as if something is complimentary or will dovetail into what you
are already doing, you can use existing resources or momentum to increase the likelihood
of success.
Will it be fun?
I love this one because I really value having fun. And why do something if it won’t be at least a bit fun.
I hope this helps you. It’s certainly served me along the way to helping stay on track
and keep my focus on the best, most profitable opportunities.
