How can we avoid decision fatigue? Do you have difficulty making decisions? Do you try to become more informed before making your decisions but end up just feeling overwhelmed?
This mental block, thinking you need more information before you can make a decision, is known as analysis paralysis.
Avoid Decision Fatigue
If you frequently find yourself the victim of feeling analysis paralysis, it’s likely that you have difficulty making decisions, which makes you more liable to choose the wrong one. Below are six different ways you can learn to stop this cognitive bias in its tracks and learn to make decisions with ease.
Make Decisions Early In The Day
When you first wake up in the morning, your mind is much less mentally fatigued than it will be later in the day. Thus, this is a good time to make big decisions especially because fatigue is a major player in causing analysis paralysis. If you make a to-do list, or goals for the day each morning, it’s quite easy to add some decision making into your morning routine at the same time.
Pick The Easy One
Depending on the decision you are making, it may just be best to go with the simpler option. This is because something which causes you to feel stress is more liable to give you analysis paralysis. Of course, this won’t work with every decision you have to make, but if you are deciding between what to cook for dinner, this can be your go-to method in decision making.
Narrow Your Options Down
Sometimes, analysis paralysis can simply happen because you have too many options in front of you. In general, this happens when you are presented with more than three choices at a time. So, if you do need to decide between more than three choices for a decision, it’s best if you narrow down your options to only three and then spend time deciding between those options.
Life Isn’t Perfect
One of the main reasons people find themselves overwhelmed by analysis paralysis is because they are worried that they may choose the wrong choice. If you get too caught up on picking the perfect choice, this may lead to procrastination. But this is bad because making any choice is certainly better than making no choice. So, remind yourself that life isn’t perfect and that you can work with any decision you make.
Step Away From The Situation
As mentioned above, when you are faced with a myriad of choices, it can be extremely difficult to narrow down your options. This is especially true when you have a massive display of the options in front of you.
This display could be in a physical store, or on your phone screen as you scroll through a store’s online shop. Either way, if you are having difficulty deciding, put down the phone or step out of the store for a moment to let yourself a moment to think and make the decision which is best for you without the information in front of you.
Once You Make A Decision, Stick With It
Another reason that people find themselves having difficulty making decisions is that they have difficulty making a commitment. Before you make your decision, resolve to see it through until the end no matter how it turns out. This will keep you from half-heartedly choosing an option and not fully committing to it.
Overall, making decisions is hard, especially when we find ourselves wanting too much information in a bias known as analysis paralysis. To help keep this bias under control make your decisions early, choose the easy option, or narrow your options down.
If you are still struggling after these suggestions, consider stepping away, remembering life isn’t perfect, and telling yourself you need to stick with a decision once you make it. Before you know it, your decisions won’t be that difficult to make at all!
Success in life-changing decisions
Do you suffer from decision fatigue