By JOHN BURCH / Community Columnist

Every decision one makes has a cumulative effect upon their long-term outcomes. For example, as a financial planner, I often remind my clients that a person’s net worth is the result of their lifetime of cumulative financial decisions. If they want to impact how it grows, begin with the very next financial decision, whether “major” or seemingly insignificant.

In business, some decisions result in positive change and some negative, but delaying decisions inevitably only results in clutter, physical and financial for sure, and sometimes even emotional or psychological. Learning to make a decision and move on in business is critical.

At the October Helena Business Association meeting, Daniel Dearing, director of Jane B Holmes library in Helena, suggested The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo as a good resource for addressing the issue of clutter. If your delayed decisions have created clutter in your personal or business life, perhaps a thorough read of this book would begin to re-shape your personal discipline of decision making by first motivating you to clean out the clutter. Don’t wait, make the decision start now and follow through!

In the next few articles, HBA member Brandon Booth, partner of Helena Health Club, shares more about personal choices that lead to smarter living and, as a business owner, intentional disciplines that foster success.