It's Time to Decide...

Welcome back to Graceland Ontario after another week and thank you for joining us! Today, we’re going to continue our series on Elvis and the Superheroes that inspired him and how their lessons can impact your success for the better. We’re going to talk about a tough but learnable skill − making decisions.

D’you remember the old 60’s Batman series with Adam West and Burt Ward. Remember how Commissioner Gordon would call up Batman and say something like, “Batman, we’ve got a problem. The Joker’s taken a hostage and we don’t know what to do. Can you help us?”

And do you remember what Batman would say. “I’ll be right over Commissioner.” Not only did he quickly decide to help when a decision was necessary to apprehend the criminal, or save someone’s life, he did it in a way that suggested he was already making decisions about the future. About what he was going to do when he got there. About what Robin was going to do to help him if he got stuck. Batman was constantly being given hard decisions, but he always made them. And he made them fast. And he saved more innocent people (and locked up more crooks) that way than by procrastinating, trying to think up some perfect plan.

I once heard a story about a CEO who said that fast decision making was the key to his success. He’d have a bunch of marbles in one pocket. If he picked an odd number, the answer would be yes. If it was even it would be no (or vice versa). It’s the same as the coin flip. Perhaps it’s not the best way to make decisions, but if you know you’re going to procrastinate for an hour thinking whether you should say yes or no then flip the damned coin!

Like superhero, like Elvis. Elvis was in the army and he was discharged as a sergeant. Now, for those of you who don’t know much about ranks, a sergeant is in charge of a fire team of men, consisting of about four individuals, and leads them in drill and combat. You don’t get that job for being indecisive (and for those of you who aren’t impressed, if you can’t lead yourself, you can’t lead others, let alone four others). You can also see Elvis in the recorded rehearsals for Elvis: That’s the Way it Is, talking to his orchestra. And it was an orchestra. There were at least fifteen people in the room and he’s the one calling the shots and changing the arrangements and telling people to get into line. He knew how to make decisions. And when you make decisions, you take charge − of your life, of a group's future, of your success.

Even when you see Elvis performing, sometimes a fan will yell to him on stage and he’ll say “later”. No rudeness. No “f− you” (goddamn rappers). He’d decide that he was starting a song and the fan could wait three minutes for an autograph, or kiss, or whatever. But you know, people didn’t get mad at him for that. He made the best decision he could in the time, he did it quickly and he got things done. And generally people respected that. Sure he messed up once in a while, as we all do, but no one seems to remember and he’s in a better place anyways so no one cares. So if no one’s gonna care if you make a bad decision far off in the future and if you constantly make other good, logical decisions you get things done, why don’t you start making more quick decisions?! But remember: once you’ve made a decision, make sure it sticks. Like Elvis, he didn’t stop a song halfway and say, “I should have talked to that fan” and messed up both the fan and the song. Make a choice, stick to it until its fulfillment, then make another choice. And heck, maybe next time you’ll make a better choice than before, but you’ll certainly get things done.

Elvis’s Lessons:

Be like Batman, be like Elvis, be decisive. When others are procrastinating and wasting time, be the one to call the shots and take charge of the situation to its successful outcome. And if you have to flip a coin to make that quick decision, go for it. But do something and stick with it till its finished and you’ll get things done.

P.S. If you'd like to see a short video of The King singing 'Words' from Elvis: That's the Way it Is, here's a link to Youtube. Notice how a fan tries to steal Elvis's attention at the beginning of the song when the band's ready to play. Elvis makes a quick decision, says, "catch you later" and the band continues to play the song.

P.P.S. I'd love to hear your comments on what I write. Feel free to comment below this post or email me (Alex) at alexghilson@gmail.com to continue the conversation.