Get Everything Done

I set a deadline to make a decision about what business to start. The deadline has arrived and I don't feel ready to make the decision.

If I extend the deadline to make the decision am I procrastinating or am I being intelligently flexible?

How can know if and when it is appropriate to extend deadlines to make decisions?

I don't know the answer to your questions. However, I offer you another question.
Can you AFFORD to delay the decision any longer? If not, then I would suggest it's procrastination, otherwise I dunno.

I would agree with Mark this is a major decision. Are you starting a business out of passion or out of the need to provide income? Owning and especially starting a business is an all consuming endeavor and you really need to be 110% committed and have the support of those people who will be affected as well. By this I mean the people who will spend less time with you and possibly be impacted financially while you are getting a new business running.

Good luck

Gerry

I often talk with friends and family about things I am thinking of doing. Only some of the topics result in any action. But all the life changing decisions are preceded by the discussions, which are a way of trying out in one's mind intentions before they become reality. Don't feel even slightly ashamed of taking time over major decisions, and perhaps talking about ideas that turn out to lead nowhere. You can't know in advance which choices turn out to be ones you choose to make and which turn out to be things that you choose not to pursue.

If you haven't decided which business, you likely haven't planned any of them either. If so, you ought to choose a business to plan, not one to start. Idea: write on your List
Will I start Business A?
Will I start Business B?
Will I start Business C?
And when you see the Q you may choose to work on that question. Consider it a task or project wherein you work out the details of what it will involve to run that business and whether it will work.

> How can know if and when it is appropriate to extend deadlines to make decisions?

You probably can not solve your challenge with the traditional "waterfall appraoch" (gather data, analyze data, formulate solution implement solution) as this method is more appropriate when you already know about the problem and its domain, you know about the right process and tools to solve it, and you know what a solution will look like.

In my opinion your question shows that for you it is a novel problem which involves more learning about the problem domain. The dilemma is that for some of the learnings you probably already need to take action and learn from the results. On the other hand that could turn out expensive when you want to start a business.

I would recommend to read about the so called "wicked problem" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem ). The solution depends on how the problem is framed and vice-versa (i.e. the problem definition depends on the solution)

I would further recommend reading the following 2 articles which show a method to visualize problems and options.
http://eight2late.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/to-accept-or-to-decline-mapping-life%E2%80%99s-little-dilemmas-using-ibis/

http://eight2late.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/unforeseen-consequences-an-unexpected-sequel-to-my-previous-post/

There are some very good blog entries with more examples on Dialog Mapping here http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/ . (The practice of Dialogue Mapping; The one best practice to rule them all).

If you wonder why I recommend all these links to your topic -> you can sit down and map your inner dialog similar to the examples even when those are discussions between different persons. Map your different questions concerning your business and the different answers / ideas / point of views that you give yourself / have and then add pros and cons to the ideas which might create new questions and so on. I hope it helps.

I forgot to mention that there is a free software tool available for Dialog Mapping named "Compendium". Download from http://compendium.open.ac.uk/institute/

I think you need some structured procrastination.
(http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/)

Put some other REALLY BIG DAUNTING items on your to do list and see if you're ready to put them off by making your business decision. I don't know what you would consider equally or more daunting, maybe 'propose to girlfriend' , 'build new deck' , or 'get vasectomy' ?

Elynn, thanks for that structured procrastination link. The article really struck a nerve with me. I need to put a few more REALLY BIG DAUNTING tasks in my DWM list, to structure my procrastination. ;-)