390 - How Fast Do You Make Decisions?

0:00I want to ask you a question. How fast do you make decisions? Napoleon Hill told a story that's always stayed with me. Andrew Carnegie challenged him to go study the most successful people of the time and distill what he learned into a philosophy of success. And that challenge ultimately became the book Think and Grow Rich. But Napoleon Hill later said there was something he did not know in that moment when Andrew Carnegie asked him. Carnegie had a stopwatch under the desk, and Carnegie had decided that if Hill did not answer within 60 seconds, he was going to move on to the next person. However, Hill said yes in 29 seconds, so the story goes.

0:48Now, whether someone wants to debate the exact number of seconds is not really the point. The point is this.

0:55Bruce Whipple:When high-performance people have enough information, they tend not to sit there endlessly circling. They decide, they move, they act. That does not mean they act and are careless. It means they understand that indecision has a cost. And I was reminded of that very sharply yesterday. I sent out an email essentially with this message to my mentees with the subject line, how fast do you make decisions? And I got a reply back very quickly. And that was what the reply was, very quickly. It was as simple as that. So I went and looked in my Kajabi account, which tells me who was in there and who's bought courses and when they bought them.

1:41Bruce Whipple:And I saw that he joined in October 15th, 2020, a little more than five years ago. But he never bought anything. He never bought a course. And so five years had gone by. Now, could he have learned how to do it elsewhere? Yeah, sure, he could have done that. But that's not what he said. He said that, yes, it shocked him when he saw that it was five years. So think about that. A lot of people believe they're close to making a decision. A lot of people tell themselves they're almost ready. A lot of people think of themselves as decisive. But then you look up and five years has gone by. That is not quick decision making.

2:27That is procrastination dressed up as caution.

2:32Bruce Whipple:And I don't want to say that harshly. I say it because it's true. Time passes whether you act or not. That is one of the cruel truths of life and business. The clock is running whether you decide to move or whether you decide to wait. And for many people, waiting feels safer. But waiting often creates a slow bleed. Opportunities pass, confidence goes down, momentum disappears, and the person begins to confuse thinking with progress. Here's what I believe. You need two things. You need to know what to do, and you need a reason for doing it. If you do not know what to do, hesitation makes sense.

3:17If you do not have a strong enough why, hesitation makes sense. But once those things come together, at some point you need to move. That is why I built the Acquisition Advantage Bootcamp, because many business acquisition mentees are not lazy. They're just unclear. They do not have the full step-by-step process behind building the right team, sourcing opportunities, structuring deals, and actually closing an acquisition. That is exactly what the boot camp recordings are designed to help with.

3:50Bruce Whipple:The current version of the Acquisition Advantage Boot Camp is a 2025 edition. It's comprehensive. It's actionable. and when the 2026 updates are released, I've just about buttoned those up, those who purchase now will receive that upgrade. So there is no need to sit around waiting for the exact perfect future moment. You can begin now. You can learn now. You can implement now and then receive the updated material when it's released. The real issue for most people is not intelligence. It's not talent. it's not even opportunity. It is the inability to decide and move. So let me leave you with the same question I asked in that email.

4:35Bruce Whipple:How fast do you make decisions? And more importantly, what has your delay already cost you? Because in the story, Carnegie was willing to move on in 60 seconds. In real life, opportunity often does the same thing. So I hope that gives you something to think about and reflect on. I hope that you in fact take action and I hope that you keep pushing.