Decision-making is never an easy task because it is a very complex task, which takes time and energy to weigh your options. Feeling indecisive and self-doubting are just a normal part of the decision process. In many ways, they’re a good thing, they are a sign that you’re thinking about your choices instead of just going with the flow. However, you don’t want to think about the choices so much that you overthink and do not make the decision.
Of course, there is a mental disorder in which you display pathological indecisiveness and can seek help, or else, you can learn the tools and skills to make faster decisions and know that many times indecisiveness is simply a combination of mindset blocks and anxiety.
We have these mindset blocks and anxiety because we as humans in most cases fear that we would make the wrong decision that’s why we hesitate when we are faced with a choice. Maybe you are afraid of failure, suffering from any consequences or even the consequences of success. Maybe you are worried about what other people will think about you. In many cases, this also ties to perfectionism and if you feel you are in any way a perfectionist, head back to ep80 where I talked about how to overcome perfectionism or ep89 about overthinking.
Anyways, I’m here to tell you today the good news that decision-making is a muscle we can build. You can practice being decisive and you will make faster decisions.
Start to build that decision-making muscle by setting some rules. For example, on social media, my rule for myself is that I do not accept any friendship requests from unknown men, this way I can easily reject hundreds of such requests at a time without the need to think about it. My rule for family time is that I don’t take client calls on weekends so that I have plenty of time for my family, so it’s a no-brainer decision when I’m asked for a call on the weekend for any reason, and this decision of “no thank you” will be immediate. I have rules set for many things: social media, money, friendship, family time, etc. Because I know my values, priorities and boundaries beforehand so that when it comes to decision making in those areas, my decisions are always immediate.
Then you strengthen this muscle by practicing from the small stuff. Set a time for making decisions. For example, give yourself 30 seconds to decide what you’ll have for food, what movie to watch, or whether you want to go out or not. Follow through on those small decisions and repeat. This is important so that you are not experiencing decision fatigue. This is why many successful businessmen wear the same things every day because they don’t want to waste time on making these small decisions. This is also part of my reason for becoming a vegetarian, I used to be stressed about what to eat all the time. By becoming a vegetarian, restaurants helped me make those decisions because usually, these are only one of two choices on the menu. And most importantly making small decisions quickly trains our brains to think through questions faster and faster. Then you are ready to work up to bigger things.
When making a bigger decision, give yourself a deadline to weigh the different options. If you can’t seem to make the decision forward, turn it around and reverse engineer. Instead of weighing what you will gain from making the decision, think about what you will lose by choosing each option and compare how you will feel losing those options. Ask yourself, is this decision healthy? Is it in alignment with my values, priorities and goals? Is it rewarding?
No one makes perfect decisions all of the time. Hey, most of us have exes, most of us have been in a job we didn’t like, we definitely ordered the wrong dish at some points. But hey, action works in our favor, while inaction never does. When you delay the decision-making because you’re afraid of messing up, nothing changes. But when you’re proactive, you’re choosing to move ahead—and that’s one of the best decisions you can ever make.
Always remember that only action will lead to clarity. I’m gonna say that again because it’s so important, action leads to clarity, so stop waiting for clarity to take action. You are always making the best decision according to your best knowledge. And if you ever take a wrong turn on the road, just enjoy the different scenery and have fun along the way. Cheers to you making healthy, successful, and rewarding decisions.
Lucy Liu is a master life coach helping women uplevel in business and life to confidently live an epic life! She is an unshakable optimist, wife, mom, entrepreneur, workshop facilitator, motivational speaker, best selling author and podcast host of The Lucy Liu Show.
Entrepreneurs & high achievers hire her to see clarity and take quantum leaps FAST. Because most of them are overthinking, scattered and self-doubting. She's best at helping you get unstuck, make faster decisions and fulfill higher potential. Bottom line: not only make more money and impact, but have more fun and live an EPIC life by design.
She has been featured in Medium, VoyageLA, Elephant Journal, ThriveGlobal, South China Morning Post and dozens of other media outlets. 
