How do you stop being indecisive?

25 comments

1. Make the choice. It doesn’t need to be perfect. The wrong choice often times will have consequences but that’s how we learn and grow as people. Do your best to make a thoughtful and educated decision but understand that it’s not ever a sure thing and be ok with whatever that means.

2. Reference the Nike slogan.

   Life got easier when I just started doing things. You can think about it and change direction while you’re in the process, but getting moving is the hardest part

3. No plan survives contact with the enemy.

   An okay decision now is better than the perfect one too late. Learn to improvise, take risks, and see less than perfect outcomes as learning experiences and cool stories to tell.

4. Not sure yet.

5. There is no single answer to this question as everyone has different reasons for being indecisive. However, some tips that may help include: -Identifying your main reasons for being indecisive. This can be helpful in finding specific strategies to address those reasons. -Breaking down decisions into smaller, more manageable pieces. This can make the decision-making process feel less daunting and overwhelming. -Setting deadlines for yourself. This can help you to avoid getting stuck in the planning stage and force you to make a decision. -Practicing with small decisions. Start with simple choices and work your way up to more difficult ones. This can help you to build confidence in your ability to make decisions.

6. You need to stop being scared of making mistakes. Easy to say, of course. If you start making decisions, you WILL make a mistake, but you just gotta realize it’s part of the process of learning. Own it and learn from it. That’s how you get *better* at making decisions.

7. Flip a coin,

   Seriously though you need to have purpose. Then you can align all you decisions with that purpose(s)

8. I don’t know

9. If you can’t decide, make a random choice. If it was a bad choice, then make it a point not to choose that option again.

10. One thing that has helped me is recognizing my own limits. I’m good at gathering information and coming to conclusions, but I am never going to be able to predict the future well enough to feel 100% certain that I’m making the right choice. All decisions have consequences, and at least some of those consequences will depend on developments you are not in a position to predict. That doesn’t mean that you should throw your hands up and pick options at random, but it does mean – as you’ve pointed out – that perfection is unattainable.

    Another thing that might help is talking to other people about it. Get a sense of how you feel and what you think. Then talk about it to someone whose decision-making and willingness to tell you the truth you trust. You don’t have to hand the decision over to them, but saying “I’m between two options and I’m favoring this one, what do you think?” can help. Other people aren’t going to make perfect judgments either, but at least you will organize your thoughts enough to express them to another person clearly, and get another perspective on the question.

11. You just need to remember than not deciding is the worse possible choice.

    OTOH, any time you can get commitment without giving commitment, you have a huge advantage.

12. The overt problem is the indecision, but a root of the problem is the perfectionism. Every time you feel stuck in this line of thinking, do the usual cost/benefit or pros/cons analysis and *acknowledge that every option has downsides* and that *no option is perfect*. Then start making plans for how to deal with the problems or drawbacks associated with the best possible decision.

    It’s better to obsessively plan for contingencies than to obsessively *do nothing*. It’s not easy, but if you can manage to shift your anxiety from paralysis into motivation for action, the anxiety itself can be a form of motivation. Even that might have its own drawback by leading you to overthink all of the possibilities, but at least you’ll be doing something.

13. The key is to understand if you always want to make the perfect decision you need the benefit of hindsight. Unfortunately this also means you are always too late.

    The best approach is use a mix of common sense, risk evaluation and gut feeling.

    So if something sounds reasonable is not incredibly risky and you feel good about it then just do it now.

    If you like the decision but it is risky then sleep a night about it and then check your gut feeling again before committing to it.

    And if you don’t like the decision then don’t do it even if it sounds reasonable.

    The only exception to trusting yourself is if something is objectively unreasonable and risky. In this case I suggest you talk with friends and or family about it before going for it. (e.g. quitting your job to become a social media star without having money to pay the next bills)

14. Life is simple. You make choices and you don’t look back.

    Yes, that is a movie quote. But it stays true. What is the worst that can happen? Honestly the important thing for you is to learn to understand that the world won’t end even if you make a slightly worse choice. Make that choice and don’t look back. Nothing bad will happen. And you can even learn from it for next time.

15. I ain’t got time to bleed.

    Doing something is generally better than doing nothing.

    You will almost never make the perfect choice.

    You make the best choice with the information available, and deal with the aftermath.

    Practice just following your instinct. When faced with a choice, ignore any second guessing. Go with whatever immediately tickles your lizard brain.

16. Stop fishing for the perfect decision, the perfect major, the perfect relationship, the perfect friend, let your instincts take hold of your actions rather than letting your mind excessively monopolising the decision who also happens to be the main culprit of your indecisiveness

17. Decide if you even have an opinion on the matter at hand. If you genuinely don’t care, that might be what keeps you from making a decision. It’ll look like indecision but you just think it isn’t worth it.
    After that, assess risk/reward or probability of success between your options and pick the one that you’re comfortable with.
    Sometimes it takes time to make the decision, and that’s fine. Being decisive doesn’t mean making fast and perfect decisions. It’s being able to make a decision when you know your options. And if you don’t know your options, then decide to learn more about your options.

18. stop caring about the outcome. Just pick something and whatever happens, happens.

19. How do you stop being indecisive?

    The same way that I stop being a procrastinator one of these days I’ll get a “round toit”

    This is it : [A round tuit](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-evsbP6Ck-_4/TrgfEfD0WeI/AAAAAAAAErs/PZRrgTA1Xao/s1600/RT+2.jpg)

20. Honestly, read historical and biographical works. All of written history is essentially the story of choices people made over the centuries. It sounds pretentious but I really do believe that reading about some 20 something year old general who had to make a choice for the lives 10s of thousands of men gave me more perspective on decision making as a whole.

    Also keeping your long term goal in focus. When I have to choose between two opportunities, I always like to imagine how the choices fit into that larger framework. Even as a teenager, I had to choose between working at a restaurant or working in a warehouse. I chose the restaurant even though it was less pay, because I wanted to practice more social skills.

21. Ah yes, analysis paralysis. The bane of damn near every dev at my work.

    SME: we want the app to do this.

    Dev: (makes those changes)

    SME: Instead can we have it do what it used to do.

    Dev: (reverts code)

    SME: On second thought, we need for it to do something else and can you also change the color to a dark gray.

    Dev: (contemplates why they exist)

22. When you’re stuck, flip a coin. If you’re really struggling to make a decision, then the benefits of acting sooner rather than later will probably outweigh whatever you might have gained from more deliberation time.

23. The difference between a manager and a leader is about five heartbeats. Your decision doesn’t have to be perfect, it merely needs to be workable. You don’t want an exquisitely detailed plan….those tend to fail. You want a general direction and a guidepost. And be willing to improvise along the way.

    Just as an aside, have you gotten your hormone levels checked? Brain fog could be related to thyroid problems or low testosterone. Or even a vitamin deficiency.

    Just a thought.

24. Make a decision

25. Ask yourself; What are the consequences of NOT taking action. Then that will make the choice you need to make clearer