Years ago, right of out of high school, I was in management training at Wendy's. I had the tremendous good fortune of working with a manager, Frank, who understood motivating people. He had a framed letter hanging on his wall from the founder of Wendy's, Dave Thomas, commending him on having the best Wendy’s restaurant in the country. No small feat when you consider that 80% of his staff were teenagers!

One day, I was preparing to open the store. We were still about an hour away from opening when a gentleman walked in the front door and asked to buy a cup of coffee. I hesitated. I didn't have the register set up. We did have a pot of coffee, however, as many of us were coffee drinkers. I stood there like a deer in the headlights until Frank walked up, poured the man a couple of coffee, explained we weren't open yet and refused to accept any money. When the man walked out, Frank looked at me and said "I'm disappointed. You're smarter than that. You had three options: 1) give him the coffee; 2) refuse to give him the coffee; or 3) do nothing. You chose the only incorrect option. The only decision that was wrong was not to decide. Most generally, it is always better to make some decision even if you have to correct it later. Doing nothing is almost always the worst option." I, of course, was devastated at the time. But, I knew he was right.

I've thought of his advice many times over the years. There are some decisions that seem so big or important that it is easy to vacillate until the time to decide has past. While that seems to take the pressure of deciding off of us, it is still a decision. More importantly, it doesn't abdicate our responsibility of the decision. Our lives are very much created by the decisions and choices that we make.

Who's deciding your life?

To Your Success,

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