How to Make Better Decisions and Take Action
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Business owners, speakers, authors, and coaches face thousands of choices a day. Whether it’s software related to what’s the next book to publish, in this episode Ashley discusses the common struggle of indecision faced by authors and marketers. She shares personal experiences and strategies to overcome imposter syndrome, emphasizing the importance of recognizing fears around publishing mistakes, consistency, and perfectionism. Ashley encourages listeners to take actionable steps to alleviate fears and make decisions. The episode concludes with practical strategies for moving from indecision to action.
TAKEAWAYS
Indecision often stems from fear of perception.
Perfectionism can slow down progress.
Your only competition is yourself.
Focus on personal growth.
Act before opportunities pass you by.
Connect with your audience outside of social media.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
00:00 Overcoming Indecision in Publishing
09:00 Strategies to Combat Perfectionism
18:02 Decisive Action: Steps to Move Forward
Watch the video from the episode instead of just listening.
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
→ Profitable Publishing™ with Preorders: www.PreorderProfits.com/Book
→ Reach out via DM to let me know what you’re trying to decide on your author journey. Choose from Facebook or Instagram.
RAW TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to another episode of Profitable Publishing. I'm Ashley, your host, and today we're going to be talking about what to do when you are stuck in indecision, when you are trying to figure something out and you just really can't decide.
And so maybe you are thinking about, "Well, I don't know what book I want to publish next," or "I'm not sure which marketing strategy is really going to work for me," or "what offer to launch that's tied to your book."
And so today we're going to be talking about strategies to overcome that indecision. I'm going to share some of my own personal experiences doing this, as well as some of the indecisiveness that I had with actually launching this podcast, and then we'll talk about how to overcome that.
So when it comes to feeling like you are stuck in analysis paralysis, there are typically a couple reasons why that is the case. Now, of course, this isn't an exhaustive list, but typically when I'm working with folks, it's usually one of these few things:
Maybe you are worried about how you are going to come off or how people are going to perceive you whenever you create your next book, or whenever you try a marketing strategy, or whatever the case may be.
And so you can kind of experience some of that high school peer pressure situation of: "Okay, well, I don't know what they're going to think. I don't know if my audience will really resonate with this." And that's completely normal—that is totally normal. Feel all the feels, but don't let those things paralyze you.
So when that happens, really think about this—this is something that I kind of do to help me realize that this is not a fight-or-flight situation; it's just my brain telling me that something serious is happening when it's really not that deep, it's not that big of a deal.
I play "Worst-Case Scenario," and this is a game that I got from This Is Us, if you remember that show. It was one of actually my favorite shows, honestly. It's not on the air anymore because it is finished, but Beth and Randall, two of the characters on there, would play worst-case scenario.
And so it's just a space for you to just pretty much brain-dump all of the terrible things that could happen as a result of this decision. And that might sound kind of morbid or pessimistic, but it actually helps you to get all of the things out there and really realize that the situations you're thinking of are probably not actually going to happen.
And if you're someone who is a bit of a worrier, or if you are someone who is just spinning in the cycle of, "Okay, well, if I do this, then what's going to happen?", it gives you the space to think those things through and actually get them out of your head.
So I invite you to do that with the situation: "If I release this book and nobody buys it—okay, worst-case scenario." Or "If I try this marketing strategy, if I try to launch my YouTube channel to generate clients and tie it to my book, what's the worst case that could happen?"
Once again, typically that's because you're worried about how you're going to be perceived.
Another reason why you might be in indecision is because maybe you're worried about being consistent. Transparency is in full effect right now: I was actually worried about being consistent with this podcast. Now, I had done previously a private podcast and I really loved it—I had a great time doing it, the people that were listening really enjoyed it, and it was very insightful. It was called Poppin' & Pre-Sales, and it was actually tied to my book launch for Profitable Publishing with Pre-Orders.
Tied to this book launch, so it was a great experience and I'm glad I did it, and that kind of inspired me to do this podcast. However, doing a short-run private podcast is very different than doing a podcast that's just on habitually week after week if you do weekly episodes, and it just felt kind of overwhelming before I even started. I just kind of went in a spiral of, "Okay, I don't know if I can do this."
So maybe you are feeling the fear of consistency. I'm someone who's great at being consistent in short spurts in terms of, "Okay, launching this thing," and then I'm really good at getting that out. But sometimes when it comes to indefinite things, it can be scary.
And that sounds so wild to say—I've done things for decades, and I worked at pretty much the same job for over a decade and then went back to that same job—but anyway, all that to say, it can just feel like it's too much.
So I had to really get over the fact that it doesn't have to be crippling. It could be something where you batch episodes, which is already a strategy that I share with book marketing (batching your content). So it just was an easy application to think about in podcasting, or just take a break.
There's a podcaster who helped me to really reframe my thoughts around the frequency of episodes and also understanding that you don't have to release an episode each week and you can still be impactful. So really, just getting around people who have done the thing that you're wanting to do, and who have been able to overcome the hurdle that you are currently stuck in, is key. That's why it's so important to have coaches and consultants to be able to support you.
Going through that and talking through that process helped me to really think about, "Okay, consistency doesn't have to be crippling," and that can be very freeing.
The next thing: you might also have the concern of perfectionism. I call myself a recovering perfectionist because I don't do that anymore—praise God, I am freed from that! But maybe you feel like you have to do certain things right.
Because you are in a certain industry, people look up to you, and you assume that everything you do just has to be golden—it has to be perfect. I did have a little bit of that: "Well, yeah, I mean, I'm a book marketing strategist, so I like to do things right." If I'm doing this new thing, I want to do it right, because this is another way to show my clients, future clients, future customers, and my readers that this is another area of marketing that I've mastered.
At the same time, especially nowadays with the rise of AI and how widespread that's become, people are attracted to imperfection. People are attracted to going behind the scenes of the process with you. They're attracted to really seeing that you're a human person, that you are not a bot, that you are actually who you say you are, and also that you make mistakes—not in a way that they're trying to tear you down, but in a way that they want to empathize with you and say, "Okay, well, if she did it, then I can do it too," or "If this is something she's working on, okay, this makes sense," or "She'll understand and be relatable to me when I tell her XYZ."
I say that because my coaching clients tell me some really intimate and private details, but it helps them to be able to understand what blockages they might have, and it helps me to coach or consult them in a way that fits with them so I'm giving them advice or strategy that aligns with their life and not just with their book.
Overcoming that perfectionism is huge because then it's really freeing. You don't have to worry about trying to do things in a cookie-cutter way; you don't have to worry about doing things the exact same way as someone else, and it makes it so that you don't have that internal voice in your head saying, "Okay, this is not right," when you set the standard of what's right.
Now, of course, within publishing and marketing, there are certain parameters and certain things you want to do that just make sense and are a good fit for your book. However, when you free yourself of comparison, and when you free yourself of looking over your shoulder of, "Oh, well, they did it this way or that way," and you just stay in your lane, then you realize that your only competition is you.
Then it makes it a lot easier to put the thing out there—to get your book done, to launch that marketing campaign, to post that reel that's been sitting in your drafts for forever and a day—because you're thinking, "Okay, I'm really just competing against myself. I'm trying to be better than how I was yesterday, or a year ago from today, or I want a year from now to look different as well." When you reframe it that way, it makes it a lot easier to accomplish that goal that you're trying to reach.
So when you are feeling stuck in indecision, I want to remind you of a few things. First, you are never going to feel fully ready to release that book, especially if you are in the editing phase. Hear me: you're going to try to find all those errors, and then one's going to be hiding and pop up as soon as you hit publish or get your physical copies. It's just a standard practice—it happens even in traditionally published books and textbooks. Second, whether you are branching out in a new industry to build your authority, or trying a different strategy like a podcast, you can only prepare so much. After a certain point, you've got to rip the band-aid off and get out there, because you don't get feedback and insights by just planning—you get those things by doing.
There's a quote that I love by Caitlin Bacher, an online marketer. She was on the Amy Porterfield podcast years ago and said: "A-minus work that never gets put out does nothing; B-plus work that gets published changes lives." (Those two might be flip-flopped in terms of order, but that's not the point!)
Basically, if you're stuck in perfectionism and think you're going to get everything perfectly done—which doesn't exist—and then you never release the thing, then people are not being impacted. If you have a book sitting in your Google Docs or drafts and it never gets published, that means people who were supposed to get the transformation from the result you provide are not going to get that, potentially because you were not a good steward of your gift.
If you are a speaker, maybe the people who are supposed to see you on a stage at a certain event are not able to get their breakthroughs because they didn't hear the word that has been deposited in you.
One thing that also helps me as a believer to overcome this is to think about how, when I am sharing my gifts and talents, I'm sharing the gifts that God has given me—I'm not sharing things from a selfish standpoint. I know that God has given me talents, and it's my job to use those talents to support people to help them change their lives. If I am not obedient to that, then someone else's breakthrough is caught up in me, and I'm preventing my own breakthrough because I'm not operating in my gifts.
Thinking about the parable from the Bible of the talents: the servant who buried their money in the ground versus the servant who multiplied their money. The second one was praised because they were able to grow the investment given to them, versus the one that hid it in the ground.
You are not an ostrich—I think that's the bird that sticks its head in the ground—you are not an ostrich! You are not someone who needs to bury your talents. You need to water them, grow them, get the coaching you need, and be in spaces with people who will support and encourage you when you don't have the capacity to encourage yourself.
That is what helps me stay centered, grounded, and focused. When you are in isolation trying to figure everything out yourself without support, you assume you already have all the answers (which isn't the case if you've never done it before), and you are blocking blessings for other people.
When it comes to being decisive and making sure that you are actually taking action, I'm going to give you four strategies to do that. Maybe you're reeling from thinking, "Should I include this chapter? Should I apply to this event to be a speaker?"
Here are the key stages from my framework, the Book Profit Path:
First, you need to Decide. Think about your Presence. How do you want to be known? What launchpad do you want to use to attract people to your services or offers? How do you want that clarified in your book's message? Whether it's a podcast, YouTube channel, or LinkedIn newsletter, think about what aligns with you, how you're positioning yourself, and what transformation you want to get your audience. Once you decide that, everything else becomes infinitely easier.
Next, you need to Do. Once you've made the decision, put steps into place to actually do the thing. This doesn't mean taking forever or doing it haphazardly, but finding that sweet spot of having the launchpad and strategy and then implementing it. Time moves quickly in business; if you're not careful, the opportunity can pass you by.
Then, you need to Deliberate. I don't mean spending forever to make a decision, but actually analyzing the steps you've taken. Take time to analyze the data and see what it's telling you: what's working, what isn't working, and what shifts or pivots you need to make to render it sustainable, efficient, and effective. For example, if you're using YouTube for book marketing, you need to analyze your mix of Shorts and long-form content and give it time to work before declaring it failed. You must try a strategy with fidelity to get a clear picture. Decide, do the thing, and then deliberate before making a shift.
Finally, you need to Delegate. Once you've analyzed what's working, bring on support—whether that's a software tool or a human, like a virtual assistant or a book launch strategist. For YouTube, that might mean using software like Opus Clips to generate captions, timestamps, or keywords so you're not stuck in the manual weeds. Note that you shouldn't delegate too early before you understand what's required for those steps, or you risk getting scammed or cheated.
Looking at how I applied this process to this podcast, I decided on my title and target audience, did the work by recording episodes and running SEO research, deliberated on strategies in alignment with podcasts and books, and delegated parts of the process over time.
I started this podcast because authors, speakers, coaches, and consultants needed to hear insights outside of traditional social media like Facebook, Instagram, or Threads. Podcasts fit my audience's lifestyle, like listening on commutes or while prepping dinner, and fit my preference when I don't always want to get on camera. It diversifies how I connect with my audience off social media algorithms, builds visibility, caters to auditory learners, and establishes authority.
In this episode, we talked about how to make decisions, get unstuck, and free yourself from indecision. If you are on the fence about deciding something surrounding your book or book business, shoot me a DM on Instagram or Facebook, or email me directly!
Thank you for listening today. Be sure to like, subscribe, and share this with another author, coach, consultant, or service provider. As always, stay profitable!
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