Brian Gubernick argues that time is an underused tool for making better decisions about businesses, partnerships, and major choices. He shows how a 24-48 hour pause moves you past initial excitement to see second and third-order consequences. Missing a good opportunity beats committing to a bad one.
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Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Let's get into today's topic. Today I'd like to talk about the use of time. In the decision-making process. So how to best use time, and why am I sharing this? This is one of the life lessons that I've picked up over the years of being on this planet for a little bit, and in being in business, and having relationships, and striving to get better every single day. This is one of those life lessons I'd like to share. I know I've shared a a couple of others in the past, and, and today I'd like to talk about time. Here's the lesson. Time, as I found over the years, is an amazing tool, and I believe it's underutilized as a variable in evaluating businesses, in evaluating partnerships, and in making big decisions. I have learned and I firmly believe that we've got to allow ourselves time to get out of the honeymoon phase and make clearer and better decisions. So the lesson that I picked up is to be patient, almost to a degree of, of, of uncomfortableness. Where maybe I'm like, "Gosh, I really got to get back to somebody," or maybe I'm worried about leaving somebody hanging out there without my response. Yeah, that's the kind of time I'm talking about. Because what I found is that oftentimes what sounds like an amazing deal and what even feels like an amazing deal, or what seems to make all that a whole lot of sense, It's actually just me being more emotional, or me, I should say, being in the honeymoon phase. We've all been there. Something lands on our desk, an opportunity comes about, something that seems super intriguing shows up, and we're excited. We're immediately excited. And probably too often, we make a move or we act on that excitement only to find out that, hey, maybe it wasn't the right move or the right decision to make. And if we had just allowed ourselves to get out of that honeymoon phase and allow time to, to kind of take shape and play a role, well, we may not have made the move or the decision in the first place. So using time wisely when making decisions is just so critical and so crucial, and it's been a life lesson for me. And specifically The greatest, I think, value is that it allows me to be more thoughtful and more informed. So I'm able to avoid making hasty decisions. I'm able to give myself a little bit more space to gather more sufficient information, maybe more relevant information. Time allows me to consider implications, both short-term and long-term. Also allows me to consider second and third order consequences. We talked about second order consequences a week or two ago. Time allows me to maybe get a little bit more input or advice, talk to those that have come before me, had experiences. Time lets me evaluate opportunity costs. And lastly, I think for me, Time lets me really kind of think through those gut feelings I'm having that I like to use, like my intuition. I like to use that as a guide, but sometimes I've got to check that intuition and allow just some time to take shape, to play out, and see if I still feel the way that, that I felt in that moment. So the lesson here is And it may not seem all that significant to some of you if you haven't made any poor decisions in your life. My guess is a lot of our listeners, you've probably made a decision or two you wish you could take back. And I would bet that some of these decisions that did not go the right direction, maybe, just maybe, it's because enough time hadn't played out. You hadn't, you were not patient and therefore you made a move in an emotional state, in a honeymoon phase where you were super excited and just wanted to get something done. I know I'm very guilty of this, and it takes— I think this is an important point— it takes a lot of effort, it takes a lot of training and skill and recognition of the fact that I am anxious, that I am excited, that I like to run and gun. Like, I've got to curb that behavior because if I want to make the right move, I just gotta let things play out. So an example, or some examples, you know, I will have a real estate deal, you know, and I would use air quotes here. If you can't see me, it'd be real estate deal in air quotes that looks super appetizing when I first underwrite it. And even when I underwrite it for a second time, and I may wanna pull the trigger and maybe someone's saying, hey, we've gotta act on this right now. And in years past, maybe I would do that. But today, nah, I think I'll sit on this for a day or 2 days. And if I lose the deal, so be it. But I want more time and patience, and I want to get out of this honeymoon phase, this emotional state. I'd rather miss out on a great deal than make a bad deal. Does that make sense? I'd rather miss a great deal than make a bad deal. I'll tell you, in my experience, bad deals have always cost me more than good deals have made me. Think about a hire, for instance. A great hire in your world can make an extraordinary amount of money for you in the business by creating more leverage or just by their talent. But I'll tell you what, a bad hire would more than offset the benefit of that great hire. So what would be the difference there? Time. Time, especially when you're hiring in that particular example. So the focusing question for you today, what's going on in your world where you've, where you've got to make a decision or you want to make a move that maybe you should push pause on? Just push the pause button right now and sit on it for the next 24 or 48 hours, and maybe longer, and just see if in 48 hours if you feel the same way that you feel at this moment in terms of your energy and excitement and desire to make something happen. If you don't, well, cool, what a great discovery. Maybe this isn't the right play for you. If you do, what an even better discovery. How excited should you be now to make that move. So today, focusing question: what's going on in your world where maybe allowing for a bit more time will provide more clarity and get you out of that honeymoon phase? And how might you apply this today? That's all we have for today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.
