Beat Indecisiveness and Reclaim Your Time

Isn’t it amazing how accurately the picture above captures the essence of overthinking? It is perhaps the single biggest cause of indecisiveness and aside from procrastination, it’s an easy way to throw away your greatest commodity – time. The decision-making process usually starts off simple enough: View the available options, explore the possible outcomes of your choices and make a decision using the information available to you. Seems simple enough, right? Well, if you’ve experienced this before, then you know what comes next. You know that right around the corner awaits the complexity and challenges of exploring all the possible factors and outcomes that “need” to be considered. You understand how a choice that should take no longer than 5 minutes, can quickly become a highly internalized debate that leaves you no closer to an answer 30 minutes later, if you’re lucky. It’s a nasty habit that many of us find ourselves bound to and it’s one that’s hard to shed, especially without the right perspective and tools.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to help free yourself of this captivating and time consuming habit. The following eight steps are geared towards helping you develop your decision-making skills. At the same time, they can easily be applied to other areas of your life such as: setting personal goals, deciding what career path you want to take or engaging in other self-improvement activities. Before diving into the process, I’d like to take a moment and share this thought: There is more than one way to get you from point A to point B. What you are about to read is just one way to get there. Absorb the parts that will help you develop a plan that you are comfortable with and, more importantly, will stick to. 

Step 1: Determine the goal of your future decision

It’s important to understand that without a firm understanding of the outcome you are looking for; your thoughts can take you anywhere, you can be influenced by anyone or led astray by anything. The bigger the decision, the more descriptive you will need to be when establishing the end goal. For someone really struggling with indecisiveness, this step might be one of the hardest to master, but if you work at it, it will quickly prove to be one of the most beneficial steps. Here are a couple examples.

Example 1: My food decisions should be geared towards healthier eating lifestyle and should include more vegetables, with a variety of colors.

In this example, the goal is simple and straight forward. At the same time, it is one that can be continuously repeated over a short or long period of time. 

Example 2: I will pursue employment opportunities that provide me with an opportunity utilize and develop my unique skill set, with at least a salary of X, in a progressive environment that will allow me the flexibility to implement initiatives and empowers its employees through continuous learning and growth opportunities.

In this scenario, someone looking for their next employment opportunity. Ideally they would have identified two to three skills, a minimum salary threshold and an idea of the type of company culture that aligns with their professional values. This would be more in line with a decision process that is complex.

Step 2: Impact of the decision
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Consider the impact of the decision. Will it have a potential life altering effect or be one that you won’t remember in five minutes? By putting the decision into perspective, in terms of impact, it helps you assign the appropriate level of resources towards it. For example, if you’ve ever had the opportunity to tell a child they can pick out a piece of candy from the store, chances are you saw them going over all their choices multiple times. They more than likely switched their choice a few times before finally making a decision. Interestingly enough, from your perspective this is not at all a life changing decision, but to that child this could be the huge decision. By putting the situation into perspective, it might provide you with the clarity needed to make an efficient decision without second guessing and causing unnecessary stress.

Step 3: Set a time limit to make the decision

This is a decision that needs to be made up front and should help you set a reasonable time expectation for yourself. Consider factors such as complexity and impact. If the decision is one that is straight forward, with minimal impact, then it should not require a large amount of time. What if the decision is complex with low or delayed impact? An example of this might be deciding when to assemble a crib for a newborn who is set to arrive in seven months. At this point in the process, there is no sense of urgency since you have seven months to complete it. However, you will need to consider what tools will be needed, the amount of time it takes to assemble, the amount of space needed and whether or not you will need assistance putting it together. In this instance, you do not need to force yourself into a tight window to establish a timeline nor should it take you five months to do so. Remember, the goal is for you to set a timeline efficiently. One to two weeks, or less, is more than enough time to make a decision. Also consider that part of your decision could be to implement it in phases. Think about the benefits associated with being able to tackle it in small steps over time without totally disrupting your daily routine. The key here is to establish a timeline that allows you and anyone else involved just enough time to get the job done. Time can be you friend when governed correctly or cause you to fail if not properly accounted for. 

Step 4: Consider the available facts

Take note of what you know and don’t know about the situation you’re faced with. Do you have enough information on the subject to be able to make an informed decision? Making an informed decision does mean that you need an enormous amount of information on the subject. You just enough of the right information. If you don’t, then your focus should be on getting the right information. Sometimes it can be as simple as a quick survey of your surroundings and using the available visual clues around you. Other times a quick search on the internet or consulting with someone, a bit more knowledgeable, will do the trick. In either case, the key is to be honest with yourself and determine if you know enough about the situation to be able to make the best possible decision.

Step 5: Explore possible outcomes

The more complex and impactful the decision is, the more I encourage you to consider the possible outcomes. Not only will this allow you to see what may lay ahead, but it also gives you a chance to consider how you might deal with it and determine if it’s an outcome you can live with. If you determine that the possible outcomes are straight forward or limited, do not spend additional time trying to dream up more outcomes. Consider the facts you are aware of, review the possible outcomes and identify the best or viable option(s) available for you to choose from.

Step 6: Make a decision

At this point in the process you are keying in on the options you identified previously. It’s important to note that you are no longer looking to identify or explore new information, to include additional possible outcomes. This is decision time. Hopefully, at this point in the process you have not exceeded the deadline you set for yourself. If you have, it’s not the end of the world. Take a brief moment, set a new hard deadline and stick to it. The goal in doing this is to help you avoid dragging out the process and to enable you to trust the work you’ve already put in. If at any point you are start to feel anxious, take a breath and remember that you have prepared yourself for this moment. Review the options you just identified for yourself and select the one that best satisfies the goal you established in step one. 

Step 7: Learn from your decision

Once a decision is made, be prepared to enjoy the fruit of your labor or take corrective action. Corrective action could involve making another decision to reverse or limit the effect(s) of your initial choice. In either case, learn from the experience by determining what worked, what didn’t work and most importantly, try to understand the “why” behind it. Use the information gained to help you make better decisions in the future. You won’t always make the right decision and that’s ok. Learn to be ok with not knowing it all or being right every time. After all, life is a chain of decisions and experiences.

Step 8: Move on with life
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Once it is all said and done, allow yourself to move past your decision. Take the lessons learned in this process and move forward. There will be plenty of other decisions to be made and my hope for you is that they will lead you towards a fulfilled life.
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If you like what you have read and would like additional help navigating this process, I can be reached at [email protected] or you can visit our website https://www.3pjourneys.com/.

Author

Floyd Sturdifen - President of 3P Journeys, LLC, passaionate coach and professional that is willing to draw from his experiences to share insight to help you in your journey.

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