The Power of Deciding Once: Why Strategy Should Be Automatic

I asked my colleague Chris a question:

“Hey, Chris, would you like a cigarette?”

She laughed and said, “No, thank you.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because I don’t smoke.”

Exactly. She didn’t have to think about it. That decision was made years ago. It’s automatic.

Now imagine your business decisions working the same way.

Every day, leaders make hundreds of small choices:

Do we team with this partner?

Do we pursue that project?

Do we rewrite the website?

Each decision takes time. It adds friction, slows progress, and drains focus.

But what if you didn’t have to rethink these decisions every time? What if the answers were already clear, just like NOT having to decide whether or not you want a cigarette?

That’s what good strategic planning does.

Think of every possible choice as a sticky note on a wall. Strategic planning is the act of sorting them: deciding in advance what belongs and what doesn’t.

When the next decision shows up, you don’t start from scratch. You just ask, “Is this in alignment with what we’ve already decided?”

It’s the business equivalent of saying, “No, thank you: I don’t smoke.”

Strategic planning doesn’t slow you down. It does the opposite. It clears the noise, speeds up decision-making, and keeps you focused on what matters most.

At Lizard Brain, we design facilitated sessions that help teams get there: aligning on priorities, making confident choices, and setting the conditions for action. Because when you’ve done the thinking upfront, everything else gets easier.