Have you ever had such a difficult time making a decision that you made no decision at all? *Raises hand*. That’s called analysis paralysis, my friend.
When it comes to our businesses, this can be a terrible condition to leave undealt with being as we are the sole decision-makers for our biz. No one knows it as well as we do, therefore we’re responsible for advocating for it.
The vision? We decide what it is.
The mission? Same.
The why? You guessed it.
Not to mention all the other decisions like what email marketing platform we’ll use, how to set up our websites, what our brand colors should be, etc.
It’s been researched and noted that the average adult makes about 35,000 “remotely conscious” decisions a day, but I’ve found that the hardest decisions for me are the ones related to my biz. Can you relate?
If you’ve been dragging and dropping items from your to-do list to the next day for about a week now because you “just can’t decide” — you’re gonna want to keep reading.
What causes analysis paralysis?
First, let’s define what we’re dealin’ with here. Analysis paralysis by definition is…
“The state of over-analyzing (or overthinking) a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome.“
So what causes us to pause and ponder most if not all of our decisions? Expert Herbert Simon says we make decisions from two places:
1. Satisfice — These are the people that make a gut punch decision based on what will most likely meet their needs at the given time of decision-making.
2. Maximize — (This is gonna sting a little). These are the people who never settle for the first, second, or possibly even third option, but instead, keep searching for the better (or best) alternative.
Don’t think, just answer: Out of the two decision making places, which do you resonate with most — the satisficer or maximizer?
You may have already guessed it, but out of the two, the maximizer is the one who struggles with analysis paralysis the most.
Don’t worry, friend, good news is comin’.
Why we “maximize” our decisions
As a maximizer you might be wonderin’ what’s so bad about making sure you make the best decision, right? Well, there wouldn’t be anything wrong with it if you actually wound up making the decisions on time or from a place that didn’t cost you your peace, am I right? Maxmizing actually just creates a habit for putting off decision making more than anything.
But, just like any bad habit, maximizing is something you can break. Before we break it, we have to know why we do it and why it’s not helpful for our business.
We already know that maximizing comes from a place of wanting to make the very best decision for our business as possible — but why do we take so long and put so much pressure on ourselves to do it?
And all the biz owners said: “fear of failure”.
Oof, that’s right. Studies show that in order to avoid making the “wrong choice”, maximizers will put off making a decision at all in fear that they’ll choose the wrong thing.
This is where the paralysis part comes in. We fill the space between decision and indecision with so many options that are brain goes into “information overload”. A place that doesn’t allow it to process any more info causing us to be paralyzed and unable to make a decision. (Hence the term analysis paralysis.)
Now that we’ve got all the facts and you’ve probably had a few “come to Jesus” meetings with yourself, it’s time to break this habit.
3 Ways to Overcome Analysis Paralysis
Now that we know more data doesn’t equal better decision making, we can move to what does.
Here’s how to beat analysis paralysis and make bold decisions like the brave biz owner you are:
1) Link your decision to a goal.
For example, let’s say you have a website launch coming up and can’t decide which platform to use: Squarespace or Showit. It’s a pretty common problem.
Ask yourself what the goal of this decision is.
If it’s to get your website up and running as quickly as possible so you can start marketing your services and make money, then this decision is on a deadline. Analyzing it for too long will put your website project off for two, three, even six months (not that I can speak from experience or anything ?).
Go to Google, type in Squarespace vs Showit (tons of blogs will populate), choose a couple you like, compare opinions and make your decision right after you’re done reading. Boom. Decision done.
2) Interview the decision.
Decisions can paralyze us because we don’t ask the 3 necessary questions before acting on them. So, next time you’re facing a decision that already has you wanting to put it off until you can do some thorough research, ask yourself this:
1) On a scale of 1 to 10 how important is this? 1 being it will barely affect my biz and 10 being it will severely affect my biz.
2) Do I have to make this decision right now? See tip #1 on goal setting. If it’s going to prevent you from reaching a time-sensitive goal, prioritize it. If not, attach it to a deadline.
3) What’s the worst that could happen? Sometimes our worst fears simply live in our heads and seem a lot bigger than they actually are. Let’s take the website platform decision for example. Could choosing Squarespace over Showit ruin my biz? Heck no. In that case, let’s choose one and move on.
3) Ditch perfectionism.
Most of the time we put off a decision it’s because we’re striving for perfectionism. I really hate to burst your bubble, but perfection doesn’t actually exist. The truth is, every decision is going to have its downside. Even if you researched it for hours, got twenty opinions, and mulled it over for a month. That’s just life.
Remember that done is better than perfect. You can always go back and tweak, but you have to move away from analysis paralysis first and make the dang decision.
So, there you have it. Head over to your to-do list and use these tips to start moving the needle in your biz and making decisions like the boss you are, friend!
If you’re really struggling in your business, book a free clarity call with me, (no strings attached,) for me to help you pinpoint your biggest roadblocks.
Then, if you decide it’s a fit and you NEED us to work together stat, we can totally proceed with a mentorship and get this education party started! ?
I wholeheartedly believe that if you’re here and reading this page, it’s not by accident, girl. I’ve been praying for this years mentoring clients, and for God to truly equip me with the knowledge and resources, tailored just for you, to project you into your next season and help you to be more confident – because THIS is your year.
It’s time. No more excuses. Let’s do this, and rise up to who God has called us to be in both our lives and businesses. ??
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Whatevs. Pinterest biz sesh, anybody!? ??
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