👋 Hi Reader!
This week, we'll explore:
- Choices vs Decisions
- The Joys of a Thought Salon
- The Magnifying Glass Metaphor for Facilitation
Let's Make Liberating Decisions
Choices vs Decisions
CHOICES seem liberating, but they overwhelm us.
DECISIONS seem overwhelming, but they liberate us.
I wrote the words above while reflecting on the conversation from this week’s “Jeffersonian Snacks” thought salon. (More on "Jeffersonian Snacks" further down.)
I love these conversations so much. As usual, I came away with new insights and perspectives that I’m applying to myself, my business, and my client work.
Anyways, now I feel like I should really print up a giant poster with those words for my wall. Because I LOVE choices. I’m a creative person, and thus constantly imagining new ideas, options, and paths to follow. Choosing just one feels like a punishment. It’s sooooo hard.
And yet…
Those choices actually overwhelm me. I don’t know where to start. I don’t know what to focus on. I can’t figure out which of my babies I love the most.
But once the decision is finally made, it’s liberating. Finally, I can confidently move forward.
This week’s topic was “making hard choices.” What the group identified quickly was that there are meaningful differences between “choices” and “decisions.”
Below are seven little a-ha moments from the discussion:
1: Making Hard Choices Is Really About Making Clear Decisions
We tend to focus on choices (especially ME!), when we should be focusing on decisions. Decisions help move us forward.
2: Choices Are Outside of Our Control. Decisions Are Under Our Control.
The moment we make a decision, we reclaim our agency — and that act alone starts building confidence.
3: Even Creating More Choices Is a Decision
The number of choices available is limitless, and endlessly exploring them is a trap. But we can decide how many choices to even consider — and recognizing that as a decision makes the whole process feel more empowering.
4: Group Decisions Are Hard Because There’s No Alignment. Individual Decisions Are Hard Because There’s Nobody Else to Blame.
We think we want everyone to agree with us all the time, but diversity of opinions helps give us confidence and clarity in what we think. When it’s just us, doubt sets in.
5: Choices Stall Momentum. Decisions Fuel Momentum.
We’re emotionally drawn to exploring choices, but that exploration quietly kills our momentum. The discipline is to whittle choices down quickly and make a decision so we can keep moving.
6: Decisions Create Confidendce — Even If It’s the Wrong Decision
Once a decision is made, everything gets easier — even if it turns out to be wrong. We don’t WANT to be wrong, of course. But the confidence and energy that come from a clear decision are almost always worth more than staying stuck.
7: Decisions FEEL High Stakes, But There Are Ways to Reduce the Risk
When we tell ourselves things like “choose wisely” or “this is a tough decision,” it can create an “imaginary bar” that we feel we have to clear. One solution is “structured reversibility” — set a timeline and clear KPIs, and commit to not second-guessing until that period ends. Then we evaluate with clear eyes whether it’s worth continuing.
Big high-fives to Andrew Garner, Eugene Siew, and Palash Sanyal for the conversation that provided the thoughts above.
Let's Snack
What's a Jeffersonian Snack?
It's like a Jeffersonian Dinner, but snack-sized.
What’s that you say?
You don’t know what a Jeffersonian Dinner is?
Ooooooh, they’re amazing. Google it.
Again, this is like a snack-sized version of a Jeffersonian Dinner.
The simplest way I’ve found to describe it is “thought salon.”
Five Guests.
Sixty Minutes.
One Unique Topic.
It’s a series of curated online gatherings that I host weekly, where small groups of great people engage in a deep, facilitated discussion around a unique topic — all in the spirit of generating new ideas, new insights, and new connections.
After talking about this idea for literally years, I've finally gotten into the groove of making it a regular weekly thing.
Want to join one sometime?
Let's Metaphor
The Power of Facilitation
This is perhaps my favorite way to describe the VALUE of facilitation:
The participants are like the sun.
Radiating with brilliance.
But it's going all sorts of directions.
(Especially true when we're talking about leaders and senior execs.)
The facilitator is like a magnifying glass...
...helping focus all that brilliance in a way that makes it hundreds of times more powerful.
This helps teams move faster, develop stronger and more creative ideas, make smarter decisions — and make their super-powers even more super-powerful.
How we can work together.
I facilitate High-ROI workshops, off-sites, and trainings that help smart teams stop overthinking and start moving. If that sounds valuable to your team, let's talk!
Or kindly introduce me to whoever plans workshops or trainings for your organization. I'd love you for it.
I also offer cohort trainings for individuals on High-ROI Facilitation, which you'll hear me talk more about soon enough.
Smiles,
-Tim-
