Are you holding back, waiting for the “right” decision? In this episode, Shannon Waller and Dan Sullivan reveal why taking action—even imperfect action—is the key to entrepreneurial momentum. Discover how making any decision unlocks feedback, reduces anxiety, and activates your best thinking, while indecision keeps you stuck. Plus, learn practical strategies to overcome perfectionism and move forward.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The importance of making a decision that requires that you take action.
• How indecision leads to more indecision.
• What you sacrifice when you refuse to choose.
• How to get a clear picture of the situation you’re in.

Show Notes:

Taking action, even with imperfect information, is better than staying stuck in indecision.

The problem with making no decision is that you’re not changing the situation that’s paralyzing you.

When you can’t make a decision, the pressure builds on you exponentially, as does the feeling of isolation and disconnection from your team and your goals.

As soon as you start taking action, you get an enormous amount of information about whether it was a right action or a wrong action.

Perfectionism is the enemy of progress.

Humans are best when they’re in motion.

People become unproductive when they’re not making decisions.

You don’t have to make the right decision. You can make a decision, and then make it right.

Clarity and confidence come after you commit, not before.

Decisive entrepreneurs make mistakes, but they also learn and adapt much faster than indecisive ones.

When you’re indecisive, you lose access to your wisdom, experience, and problem-solving abilities.

The act of deciding eliminates alternative options and allows your mind to focus on what matters most.

Protecting your role and saying no to distractions is a by-product of being decisive about your commitments.

The word “decide” literally means to “kill off” alternatives, freeing you from mental clutter and overwhelm.

Resources:

The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan

The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

The Impact Filter™

An entrepreneur for over 35 years, Gary Mottershead is the founder and president of GCP Industrial Products, the largest U.S. importer of industrial sheet rubber, serving customers across North America. In this episode, he shares the highs and lows of his career, as well as his goals as a Program Coach for The Strategic Coach® Program.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• What Gary considers to be his most important responsibility.
• How Gary’s entrepreneurial career started with an actual tire fire.
• How he and his team built up their “crisis muscle.”
• Why reinterpreting your past and protecting your present is crucial to entrepreneurial success.
• How Strategic Coach® helps entrepreneurs sharpen their vision.
• Why Gary chose to write a book—and what he learned from the process.
• How entrepreneurs can overcome FOMO.

Show Notes:

If you’re going to bring children into the world, you should look after them.

Having a support system at home is vital to the success of any entrepreneurial family.

Stability in some areas of your life can give you the energy to handle changes in others.

Sometimes, not making a decision is the greater risk.

There are things entrepreneurs feel compelled to do without knowing why.

Trying to be significant before you’re successful is doing things backwards.

The time isn’t up unless you decide it’s up.

The mark of an entrepreneur is not how often you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up.

You’ll handle a situation more calmly if you’ve experienced something similar before.

Being nimble is a mindset.

Forgiveness means letting go of the hope for a better past.

You can rewrite your own story, keeping only what’s important.

The future isn’t written yet—which means you can still shape it.

Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle, not just a job.

Without intention and direction, too much information can paralyze you.

The hardest thing for an entrepreneur is being honest with themselves.

You can only help those who want to be helped.

Resources:

Kolbe A™ Index

Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nimble Future: Reinterpret Your Past, Protect Your Present, Engage In Your Future by Gary Mottershead

Unique Ability®

Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs (Effective Strategies Only)

The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs

The Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan

Many entrepreneurs use negatives to make a sale. But why sell fear when you can sell opportunity, and why sell pain when you can sell growth? Dan Sullivan reveals why positive messaging attracts the best clients, how ambition fueled by principles keeps you young, and why your community determines your growth. Learn why the most successful entrepreneurs never retire—they just keep reinventing themselves.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• How selling is both an intellectual and emotional activity.
• Why fear isn’t something to avoid—but a sign you’re growing.
• The mindset shift that keeps successful entrepreneurs innovating.
• How Strategic Coach® accelerates growth for already successful entrepreneurs.
• The surprising link between ambition, aging, and fulfillment (and how to stay "young" at any stage).

Show Notes:

Most sales pitches use fear—but fear attracts the wrong clients and limits your growth.

Selling has two parts to it: intellectually connecting people to a desirable future result, and

then emotionally engaging them to take action to achieve that future result.

To be effective, a sales pitch has to be both convincing and compelling.

Instead of pitching that you can remove a negative, focus your pitch on amplifying something positive.

You're ambitious because of your passion. You'd like to see your passion have an impact out in the world.

Who you surround yourself with determines your trajectory: growth-oriented people keep you young, while stagnant people age you.

Status entrepreneurs, as opposed to growth entrepreneurs, eventually run out of ambition.

Ambition is driven by strategy. Growth is driven by principles.

Your principles are your way of being.

The moment you retire from fear, you also retire from excitement.

Fear and pain go together, as do opportunity and growth.

The biggest thing you're putting at risk when you're growing is your own past.

In the Strategic Coach community, you're not the exception—you're the norm.

Resources:

10xTalk Podcast with Dan Sullivan and Joe Polish

Anything And Everything Podcast with Dan Sullivan and Jeffrey Madoff

The Mindset Scorecard by Dan Sullivan

The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan

Growing Great Leadership by Dan Sullivan