Issue #94b • September 5th, 2026

This piece expands on one of the ideas from "The Tool You're Waiting For Doesn't Exist." If you haven't read that one yet, it's worth starting there.

The skill. The word "decide" comes from the Latin for "cut off." Every real decision kills the other options, permanently, and that's exactly why it's uncomfortable, and exactly why it works.

Why it matters. Most of us treat indecision as neutral, as if leaving something open costs nothing while we wait for clarity. It doesn't. Every week you leave a real decision unmade, you're still deciding, just badly, to keep paying whatever the ambiguity costs. Research backs this up: people are generally happier after irreversible decisions than reversible ones, because once the other options are actually closed, you stop spending energy wondering about them.

How to practice it.

• Ask honestly: am I waiting for real new information, or do I already know?
• Pick one open decision and close it this week, not perfectly, just permanently.
• Let it cost you something on purpose. That cost is the point, not a sign you chose wrong.

What decision have you been keeping open because closing it feels riskier than the discomfort of leaving it unresolved? Name it specifically.

If this landed, hit reply. I read them all.

Mathias Ihlenfeld | Entrepreneur | Coach | Advisor

P.S. Part three, "The Joy of Missing Out," is about why some decisions, the almost-right ones, are the hardest to close. This is also the exact territory I work through with founders in Birthing of Giants. The next cohort starts October 15, capped at 16 seats.

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