The price of the decisions you keep putting off
Either you decide, or the calendar decides for you.
Over the past few months, three business owners from the professional services world have reached out to me about big, far-reaching questions for their companies. Pere (an engineer) has landed a major opportunity that would double the size of his firm, both in revenue and in structure. Maria (a lawyer) is dealing with an internal problem: a partner leaving with nothing planned. And Ramon (in IT) is facing a tough stretch as AI reshapes his sector, and he's set himself the goal of billing 150,000 euros in the next three months.
When people ask what I do, I often say I catalyse decisions. Because choosing is the foundation of freedom, and failing to choose means neglecting the leadership that running a business demands.
The Valencian writer Joan Fuster said that any politics we don't make ourselves will be made against us. In business it's exactly the same: the decision you don't make ends up being made by someone else, or by events.
Pere should have worked out long ago what kind of projects he wanted to pursue, and prepared his company to absorb them properly. Maria knew she had to tackle her partner's succession as retirement age approached. And Ramon shouldn't have stopped selling precisely when things were going well.
None of the three has a market problem or a capacity problem today. They have a calendar problem. These are decisions that now have to be made reactively when, a few years ago, they could have been made proactively. And the difference isn't the decision itself (though that matters too), it's who does the choosing: you or your circumstances.
Because when they came to see me, all three knew perfectly well what they should have done. They didn't lack judgement. They lacked commitment.
And you, is there a decision that's been on your mind for months (or years)?
If the answer is yes, remember that you don't pay the price today. You pay it the day you can no longer choose.
© Oriol López Villena 2026