Decision-Making: 9 Causes of Indecisiveness 

If you have trouble making final decisions, you may want to explore a few causes of your indecisiveness. Then, if you discover you’re doing these things, you can eliminate them and start making decisions much faster. 

• Thinking Too Much – If you allow yourself unlimited time to make a choice, you may never make one. Sometimes that can lead to choices being made for you by default. This can make you feel a little out of control. Instead, set time limits on research and decision-making. 

• Too Many Options – For some choices, there are simply too many options for you to choose from. If you keep looking at all the possibilities without narrowing them down, you must create better criteria to finalize your decisions. 

• Listening to Others – While it’s fine to get opinions occasionally for some things, especially if the opinion is an expert one, such as contracting CPA services, for example, for the most part, if the choice only affects you listen to yourself more. 

• You’re Allowing Guilt to Control you – When you first begin to live for yourself to reach your personal goals in life, some people will push back against you. This action can cause guilt on your part. The problem is guilt never helps you make good choices — only facts do. 

• Not Listening to Yourself – You know much more than you give yourself credit. Therefore, you need to listen to your internal thoughts based on your knowledge. 

• Seeking Perfection – Perfection simply does not exist. Therefore, it’s a fool’s game to keep trying to produce it. In fact, perfection-seeking can end up in no action being taken at all on your goals because it’s impossible. 

• Lack of Self-Confidence – If you lack confidence in your choices, sometimes it’s due to a lack of education on the topic. In that case, educate yourself to make sound decisions, and your confidence level will grow as you make good choices. 

• Fear Of Making the Wrong Choice – If you fear making the wrong choice about something, step back and ask yourself whether this will matter to anyone in 100 years. If you’re not changing the fabric of society with your choice, it probably isn’t going to change much. However, if it does matter that much, seeking expert advice may be necessary. 

• You Forgot Your Overarching Goals – Each decision you make in life either keeps you the same takes you backward or advances you toward achieving your goals. It can be hard to match current choices with the right actions if you aren’t sure about your main goals. Get clear on your goals, and your choices will become easier. 

To overcome these decision-making blockers, train your mind to think differently. Instead of thinking of any of these issues, think about what your goals are and whether this decision affects those goals at all or not. If they do, ensure they take you closer to achievement, but if they don’t, consider that your choice for this one thing may not even matter in the scheme of your life.