By Toronto Life & Mindset Alignment Coach Stephanie J. Marshall

What causes indecision?

Indecisiveness is #2 on our list of the top 10 ways that intelligent women get in their own way.

Decision-making is a big deal since your current life is the result of all of your past decisions. Indecision becomes a problem when you find yourself putting off or altogether avoiding making decisions because of the stress or overwhelm that it brings up.

Usually, indecision boils down the worrying about one  (or more) of the following:

• Not everyone is going to agree with the decision
• Not everyone is going to be pleased with the outcome of the decision
• People might have opinions about you for making this decision
• There is no guarantee on how things are going to turn out
• There is a possibility that looking back on this decision you will wish you had made a different choice

Decision overwhelm isn’t reserved for the big life decisions, it can be triggered by seemingly inconsequential choices.

It matters because:

1. A higher level of indecisiveness is associated with lower life satisfaction.
2. If indecision paralysis is keeping you from making decisions you will miss out on opportunities.
3. Indecisiveness can lead to unproductive rumination post-decision-making.

Indecision is a Habit

Being indecisive isn’t all bad, studies show it may help you analyze evidence rationally, protect you from cognitive bias, and keep you from over-simplistic thinking. That said, you can train your mind to overcome these pitfalls and be decisive at the same time, they are not mutually exclusive.

Being decisive is a habit, which means that it’s a behaviour that becomes easier the more you practice it. The two simple steps to focus on are:

Becoming Decisive

Step 1: Study the options and decide.
Deciding is simple and it happens in a moment, but not easy when it feels like you are courting disaster with the possibility of a wrong decision.

Postponed decisions add up and start to feel like a weight that you have to lug around. You need to remember that making any decision is often better than making no decision, and deciding is the only way to release the weight of indecision.

Delaying a decision can feel like a time out, but your life is not on pause. It might be helpful to think of not making a decision as an active choice with real consequences.

Step 2: Affirm your decision
Keep affirming why you made the right decision. There is no point in revisiting, questioning or berating yourself for decisions made in the past, you made them to the best of your ability at the time.

Learn from and let go of the decisions behind you and focus on the ones in front of you.

In the Kickstartology Coaching program, we show you how to get more comfortable making both big and small decisions with the information at hand, without sacrificing analytical thinking. We have simple tools that will help you reframe a decision to make it feel manageable and easier to deal with.

How much could you release if you had faith in your ability to make confident decisions and follow through for yourself?

Make this year the year you get out of your own way to find out what you’re capable of.

Book a call to get started with Kickstartology Coaching.

-Stephanie