Layer 1 — The cost of decisions made badly (last 3 years)
Hires, product launches, pricing changes, supplier decisions, structural changes — anything that materially affected the business
🔢
Be honest — not catastrophic failures, just decisions that cost more, took longer, or produced a worse outcome than intended
10%25%40%55%70%
Decisions off-plan: 30%
Include: direct financial loss, time cost (your rate × hours lost), team disruption, recovery cost, and opportunity cost of the wrong direction
$
Used to calculate time wasted on decisions that went wrong and had to be revisited or reversed
$/ hr
Layer 2 — The cost of decisions avoided or delayed (last 3 years)
The underperforming team member. The pricing change. The process that needs building. The supplier relationship that should have ended. Count them honestly.
🔢
Lost revenue, ongoing inefficiency, team uncertainty, your mental energy spent circling the same issue
$/ mo
Think about the decisions you know you should have made — how long have they been sitting?
1mo3mo6mo9mo12mo
Average delay: 5 months
Late-night reasoning, recurring conversations, rethinking the same issue. It has a cost.
1hr3hr5hr7hr10hr
Circling hours: 3 hrs/week
Layer 3 — The opportunity cost of wrong direction
Not just decisions that underperformed — decisions where you committed fully to the wrong path and had to reverse course
🔢
Team time, financial investment, recovery cost, and revenue not generated while heading the wrong way
$
Layer 4 — The confidence premium
Owners who decide well and quickly move faster. A structured process adds an estimated 10–15% execution speed on growth decisions. What would 10% faster execution on your growth decisions be worth annually?
$
Your confidence level
How accurately do you think your estimates reflect the true cost of your past decisions?
🎯 Blind Spot pre-set
Complete your Blind Spot profile to get a personalised confidence level based on your dominant pattern.
At 50% confidence — a balanced position. Even a conservative estimate of past decision costs typically produces a number that justifies a structured process immediately.
Your illustrative decision cost model Estimates only
Total 3-year decision cost
—
at your confidence level
Annual decision cost
—
what poor decisions cost per year
Hours lost to poor decisions
—
over 3 years — at your rate
Layer 1
Decisions made badly
—
The direct and indirect cost of significant decisions that did not go to plan — over 3 years, at your confidence level.
—
Layer 2
Decisions avoided or delayed
—
The ongoing cost of decisions sitting unresolved — monthly cost × delay × number of decisions — plus the value of your time circling the same issues.
—
Layer 3
Wrong-direction commitments
—
The cost of committing fully to the wrong path — team time, financial investment, recovery cost, and revenue not generated while heading the wrong way.
—
Layer 4
The confidence premium
—
The value of deciding well and quickly. A structured process adds an estimated 10% execution speed on growth decisions — compounded over 3 years.
—
3-year decision cost — year by year Illustrative
Year
Bad decisions
Delayed decisions
Cumulative total
The question this model answers
What has not having a decision
process cost your business?
process cost your business?
—
illustrative 3-year total — at your confidence level
This isn't about blame — it's about clarity. Every business owner makes decisions without a structured process until they find one they trust. The Courage to Decide framework changes that from this decision forward.
Program cost (12 months)
—
Annual decision cost avoided
—
The Courage to Decide framework pays for itself when it prevents decisions that cost more than the program. Based on your numbers, the illustrative annual decision cost is — — a return of — on the program investment at your confidence level.
Important — Illustrative estimates only
All figures in this model are illustrative estimates based entirely on your own inputs. The accuracy of the model depends entirely on the honesty of your estimates. Decision costs are notoriously difficult to quantify — the value of this tool is in the thinking it prompts, not the precision of the numbers.
This model does not constitute financial, accounting, or legal advice. Knowledgebase.business Pty Ltd accepts no liability for decisions made in reliance on the outputs of this model.
[Disclaimer language subject to legal review — for internal use only until approved]