Go Next Play

In life, some decisions are hard to reverse. Whether you’re making a strategic call, a hiring choice, or a personal life move, certain outcomes carry real weight.

When I come face-to-face with such situations, I remind myself of this important decision-making heuristic :

Slow down when the cost of reversal is high.

Take time. Gather data. Pressure-test assumptions. If the downside is significant and the path back is narrow, don’t rush. That’s where discipline matters most.

But there’s a flip side:

Even with your best thinking, you will sometimes get it wrong.

When that happens, there’s only one move you can make.

Shift immediately to “Next Play”.

This concept comes from elite sports. Athletes who dwell on mistakes lose momentum. The best recover fast — not by pretending the mistake didn’t happen, but by making the next best move from where they are now.

It’s the same in leadership.

Beating yourself up doesn’t create progress — adaptation does.

Reflection is useful; rumination is destructive.

So here’s your two-part approach:

• Before the decision: Slow down for high-cost, hard-to-reverse choices.
• After a mistake(if there is one): Drop the guilt. Get present. Go Next Play.

Mistakes don’t define you — your response does.

Master both sides, and you’ll manage your life with clarity, resilience, and forward motion.