Are you struggling with indecision? Does picking an outfit for a party put you into an anxious mental state? Are you paralyzed when tasked with making a decision concerning taking a new job or not? Struggling with indecision is just no fun.
According to Marcus Tullius Cicero, “More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.”
While the reasons for being indecisive are numerous, and some might be logical, the good news is that making decisions is a skill, and like any skill, anyone can learn it.
In this article, we shall discuss how indecision affects your life and discuss ways you can effectively battle indecision and become more decisive.
Understanding Indecision
Research into understanding indecision shows a universally adverse effect of indecisiveness. According to a study by the Netherland Journal of Psychology, “Indecisiveness is a widespread phenomenon. It is capable of limiting all aspects of your life, from your romance to your career.”
Concerning the causes of indecision, numerous studies on the psychology of indecision have shown that there are diverse causes of indecision. These causes are unique for every individual, and the cause of your indecisiveness isn’t the same for someone else.
There, however, are certain common keys that are determinant on whether you are unable to quickly make sound decisions or not, the include the following.
· Trying to please people. This is making a decision that will please others in hopes that they will like you more. When you always make decisions to please other people, you lose the ability to make decisions that are your own.
· Losing faith in yourself. This is common after a series of bad or wrong decisions leaves you hurt or disappointed. Most people lose faith in their own judgment and become indecisive after that.
· Too many choices. It is common to be indecisive when you are presented with too many options. An example is making a choice from a menu. You are presented with dozens of options, and that makes it harder to make up your mind.
The Benefits Of Indecision?
While indecision can impact our lives negatively, indecision isn’t always a bad thing. Indecision makes you hesitate and gives you more time to consider the situations and the options available critically. You are provided with more time to gather and weigh the facts and make a better-informed choice.
Experiencing indecisiveness when making a life-changing choice is common and only shows that whatever decision you are trying to make really matters to you. It is, however, important to know when you are taking time to weigh your choices and when you are forever stuck in the loop of indecisiveness.
Eliminating Indecision
The steps below will help if you find yourself continually plagued by indecisiveness.
Forget The Fear
If you are unable to make a decision, there exists a chance that you are scared of something. To eliminate this fear, consider why you are afraid and write it on paper. Once that is done, acknowledge the repercussions of such fear coming to pass. If this fear materializes, how will you cope? What is the possibility of this happening? Weigh this against the fear of all the options you are battling with.
A good example of this is choosing to take a new job. Maybe the pay of the new job is lower than what you currently earn, but there is a higher growth rate. There might be a valid fear of reduced income for a while.
Carefully consider how your life will be affected by this decreased income and how you can handle it. Once this is done, it’s much easier to eliminate the fear and make the best decision.
Trust Your Emotions
If you are constantly indecisive, the reason is that you do not trust your guts and need to stop over-analyzing. While there is a place for considering your options when making a serious decision, trusting your guts is a surefire way to develop intuitions that helps you make decisions easily.
Some ways to practice this, according to a study by Psychology Today, are:
Putting A Time Limit On Your Decisions
Create a list that reminds you of the times when your decisions turned out to be just right.
Keep a journal where you daily input details on how you feel as it relates to making decisions. This helps you tap into intuitive and reflective capacities that are being ignored.
Practice On The Small Stuff
According to research on Education Resources Information Center, decisiveness is a skill. That is great because it means that it can be learned and mastered like every other skill. While there is no universal step to eliminate indecisiveness, you can only know what works for you by constant practice and experimentation.
Begin by making a series of small decisions every day. You can set a target of 10 - 15 decisions per day. Little decisions like what to eat, the route to take, an inexpensive purchase, and other small decisions that lack any serious consequences.
As you make these decisions daily, you are practicing, growing in confidence, and gaining an ability that would come in handy when the time to make serious life-changing decisions comes.
Conclusion
To conclude, do not become indecisive about the steps to battle indecision! Decide to try out these steps today, and before long, you’ll find yourself handling even the big decisions easier.
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