Oh, the moments when I felt anxious and trapped by analysis paralysis!
I often hear something along these lines when I tell people that I dedicate myself to re-tooling decision making.
There are ways to overcome this but it all starts with understanding how one is creating this problem. (Jump to the link in comments if you want a solution). The most common underlying reasons for which analysis paralysis occurs:
Being a person who sees opportunities leads to a great capacity of generating possible options which instead can make it difficult to make a choice. Much like it is difficult to make a choice when you have an aisle full of gems and you just want a jar.
Usually related to the above, one can have a high value for keeping options open which in turn makes him/her anxious about making a choice because that means reducing available options (even if only in one's mind).
Doing a rational analysis (perhaps a pros and cons list) and in the end feeling unconvinced about the resulting "winning" option because something just doesn't feel right.
Getting caught up in details and feeling overwhelmed as a result. This feeling can come from the fact that when trying to decide based on details one will naturally have more factors to consider and weight. In this context analysis paralysis can also be due to the fact that we might fail to see the forest because of the trees and lose sight of what really matters.
Typically connected to the previous point, one might focus on what differentiates the available options so much so that (s)he fails to see how some of them are similar; having options which are similar should make choice easier cause it means there is not a significant impact. Is it really that hard to choose between two beach resorts if you consider what the impact of a "wrong" choice is?
Looking for just one more piece of information before making a decision becomes a lengthy information gathering exercise that is used as an excuse for avoiding a decision.
Being overtaken by emotions has one unable to make a call.
Being uncomfortable making an independent decision but being in a situation which requires one to do so. Some of us are used to seeking external advice/guidance when having to decide and will feel stuck if they are just left to decide on their own; they don't have an internal benchmark based on which to decide and need guidance towards building one.
Anything else you experienced that you would add to the list?
Here is the silver line from my end: each of these are symptoms of the way we filter and sort information mentally. By taking stock of these subconscious mental defaults we can gain flexibility and adjust our response.
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