22h ago

How do you combat choice paralysis?

Analysis paralysis (or paralysis by analysis) describes an individual or group process where overanalyzing or overthinking a situation can cause forward motion or decision-making to become "paralyzed", meaning that no solution or course of action is decided upon within a natural time frame.

I, as many others suppose, have many things I'd like to do in my lifetime. Nonetheless, even though I've gotten better at it over the years, I still feel easily overwhelmed by all the things I want to do, the things I feel like I'm supposed to do, and the things I must do. What have been your best ways to tackle this? How do you prioritize and find time for different interests, exercise while still combining it with work and other stuff?

36 comments

When I go to a restaurant, I don't read the whole menu anymore. As soon as I find something I'd like, I stop reading and order it. Occasionally my wife will point out something on the next page that she thinks I'd like more, but I don't do it myself.
It's made my dining experience so much better over the years. I don't stress about the food I'd rather eat and just enjoy what's in front of me.
It works because in that situation, like many situations, there's more than one right answer. If I get the omelette, I'll be happy. If I get the pancakes, I'll be happy. If I get the omelette while I'm thinking about the pancakes (or vice versa), that's the only wrong answer.
So that's something I like to remind myself of. Sometimes you're stressing yourself out between two right answers, so it's ok to just pick one and run with it.

I was taught at some point in my life about "SMART Goals"
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-Bound
The work we had to do was stupid and tedious, but setting goals according to this scheme has actually positively affected my life
- Took a class in college called "college success", and it was literally a class on just getting your shit together. A lot of the information was stuff that everyone already knows, but having it actually spelled out, defined, and being shown how it positively effects your life was absolutely game changing for me.
  SMART was one of the first lessons. I don't look at the whole acronym for setting goals anymore, but the ones I do focus on are measurable and achievable - it doesn't do you any good to say, "I want to build my savings up" or "I'm gonna grind hard, take 20 units this semester and graduate a semester early". You'll never feel like you've built your savings up enough if you don't have a specific goal in mind, and setting unreasonable goals to "push yourself" will just make you feel like a failure, even if you knew the goal was unattainable (I've always hated the "shoot for the moon, if you miss you'll hit the stars" attitude - I set reasonable goals, and when I achieve them, they are raised. Setting a goal you know you can't reach is almost always going to demotivate you from ever trying to reach it)
  
  Agreed in every point. I do use just about the whole acronym personally, cause I do struggle a bit with specificity and timeliness in my goals when I don't.
  Especially your last point in the parentheses, a lot of people tell me "you need to be more realistic."
  No I don't, you just asked for the wrong thing. You asked for my long term plan when what you wanted to know was "where do you wanna be in 6 months." Long term isn't 6 months to me, I have a 1000 year plan for my nonprofit. But if you wanna know what I've got in store for 6 months from now, then I can tell you that too because I've got steps to follow.
  Don't shoot for the moon and hope to end up in the stars. Create a detailed plan to get to get to the moon, and then get to the stars from there

I just assign a number between one and six to each choice. And then I roll a dice.
If the dice lands on something and my immediate reaction is "God dammit" I roll again until I get a choice I like.
Sometimes you don't even know a choice isn't one you want on the table until you pick it out of a lineup of other choices.
- This is how I use coin flips (for two options, obviously).

Don't let the unattainable perfect solution get in the way of the implementable good solution
- I’ve heard this phrased as “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”
  
  Perfection is impossible.

Zen coin flip.
Assign the faces to whichever choice at the time. Flip the coin. If you don't like the result and would rather do the other, then do the other. If you really don't care between them, then do the one it lands on.
Of course with equal weight items, not like "heads, I get to sleep and jerk off all day, tails I go to work".

Make rules for yourself about common decisions, always do the same thing. I.e. always go pee when you feel the need in bed, never "sleep it off". Truly believe that "no decision is worse than a bad decision". Bang, done.

Read a little de Beauvoir, or Sartre. Existentialism always puts things in perspective.
- And switch it towards absurdism and especially Camus towards the end. Having the “…but it is, or can be, actually good” angle really helps adapting that mindset to real life action and motivation.

Is it something actually meaningful or is it just general choices through your day?
I've turned the meaningless stuff into a game with people I know. If it's just a decision effecting me, I'll text someone and say "pick a number 1-10". I'll assign even or odd to "do x" or "don't do x" and depending on what they pick, my choice is made. If it's a group decision (go to bar, stay in, where to eat, what movie, etc) then I have an app on my phone for "Spin the Wheel" and we spin it to see what choice is made. We "leave it up to fate" now lol.
Also, if you feel really strongly about something but don't want to commit, it can help push you. If I really want to eat somewhere but don't wanna force it, I either have to accept a different choice or make myself do it. Anyone is "allowed" to intervene before the wheel has done to make their choice known.
We also don't do best 2 of 3, or respins. It's ond and done; fate is never wrong.
- We also don't do best 2 of 3, or respins. It's ond and done; fate is never wrong.
  Although, sometimes, spinning the wheel and regretting the result is a good way of learning that you actually didn't want that option to begin with.
  
  For sure, it really helps, as dumb as it sounds. If you truly don't care, you get your choice made for you. If you do care, you find out pretty quick you should be up front about it

>In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. - Theodore Roosevelt
or like Eminem said just do it lalalala, go crazy lalalala

I can't decide the best way.

I basically just do a mental coin toss or diceroll.

Randomization. Simply impulsively make a decision at the last second.

This is very common and the solution is simple:
Put the choices in a list.
Compare item 1 with item 2, and pick the best option for whatever reason and ignore all the other choices.
Remove the losing option from the list.
Go to step 2 until there is only one choice left.
This works because every item you eliminated was worse than at least one other item in the list.
- Until you have a Rock-Paper-Scissors problem.
  
  Nope.
  Try it.
  Rock Paper Scissors
  First two, Paper beats Rock.
  Eliminate Rock.
  New First two, Scissors beats Paper.
  Eliminate Paper.
  Scissors wins.

i default to the whatever can be finished early with what i currently have thinking. this is not the fastest per se but in my head, it strikes a nice balance.
and if that is not the right way to do it, i have less regrets because the move was cheap.

Calendar them.

Accept the fact that no matter what choice you make there will always be times when you'll look back and think "what if?".

I I'm faced with 2 or more choices I used to overanalize them. Thinking logically through pros and cons and choosing what looked best on paper. But more often then not I came to regret my decision at the end.
I came to realize that often when faced with choices I had my mind already made up but I still felt obligated to look at things objectively - not just listing to my gut feeling". But this hindered me to actually do what I wanted to do in the end.
"You" know what "you" want - logic sometimes gets in the way of that.
I didn't just blindly started to trust my gut on everything. But now, when I'm faced with choices I take note of the first impression I get when they are first presented to me. I use my gut feeling as a "weighting factor".
Often times when it comes to "This looks better on paper, but this stuck out to me more when I first heard it." I go with the latter, not the former.

You'll have to get the "must do" category contained. Define it, trim off anything not strictly a must.
Then, sort through the "should do." How much of it actually should be done? How exactly do these tasks or activities improve your life? How much of it was recommended by someone who doesn't understand your life or your social circles?
Once those two are managed, then space opens up for the "want to" category.
Or maybe not? Maybe you're just at a place in life where maintaining a healthy life, healthy relationships, and paying the bills is all you have time for.

Depends how much I care about the end result and how knowledgeable I am with the topic.
Computers: No paralysis at all - I am picky and I can easily filter out most options.
Curtains: Get it over with and pick something with a reasonably average price so I can leave as quickly as possible.

When I get paralyzed by choice I start weighing the pros and cons of whatever I'm choosing. If all is equal or a "least worst" isn't identified then I choose whatever pops into my head the most (whatever has my attention the most).

If I really get stuck and can't give one option a higher priority than the other, I assume they are "tied" and pick either randomly or based on what solves my most immediate need.

When I get analysis paralysis, I try to step back from the problem and give myself permission to experiment.
So instead of debating what hobby to take up, or product to buy, or whatever, I instead try to figure out how to give one of them a try for a day.

Go vegan. Or at least vegetarian or flexitarian. Not even joking. Life becomes so much simpler.
- Lol what? The OP didn't ask what diet he should go with
  
  Diet is literally the most frequent choice we all make, i.e. every single day. All your response reveals is your insecurity about your own.
  
  Kind of fits as a general philosophy though. Exclude items based on some criteria, limiting the choices you have to make. This makes your life simpler, and your actions align with your beliefs.

36 comments