Many decades ago, I wrote my doctoral dissertation on decision-making. I even developed a decision-making test and had it copyrighted, although I never did much with it afterward. In fact, some of the knowledge that I gained from the process didn’t stick with me too long either, because I still find myself being indecisive more often than I would like to be.
One thing that has stuck with me, however, is the knowledge that indecision is actually a decision. When we choose to overthink rather than coming to a decision, we are really making a decision – but it’s not a very good one because we are taking decision-making control out of our hands. Sometimes opportunities get lost because of our indecision, as somebody else decides to do something or accept the assignment or take the risk while we’re still thinking about it. And sometimes deadlines pass without us making a decision. The reality, however, is that we have decided to not pursue an opportunity until after it’s too late to do so.
Sometimes it makes perfect sense to not pursue an opportunity that has been presented to us. It may be too risky or too expensive or too time consuming – although the opportunity has a certain amount of appeal if everything were to work out, but there is no guarantee that it will. Under those circumstances, be honest with yourself and decide without going through the agony of over-thinking until a deadline has passed.
This is not being written to encourage you to not consider the facts and the various possible outcomes before making a decision. That does take some time, but decision-making should be recognized as an active process that will lead to a decision that is comfortable. It should be noted that some decisions are “close calls” but they have to be made. Take the necessary time to permit your best judgment to occur, but actively work toward a conclusion.
Because not all decisions are simple ones, over time we make some decisions that are wrong and some that result in giving up or losing some opportunities even though we have gained others through the choices we’ve made. But the worst decision that you can make is to agonize indefinitely and have decision-making taken control out of your hands and then regretting it afterward. You can learn from making a wrong decision; very little can be learned from a decision that you make by not deciding.