How to avoid inaction as a result of information overload. Learn how to stay productive, improve your decision-making process and hold on to your happiness during your personal development and personal growth journey. 

Do you suffer from overthinking and overanalyzing to the point of either taking too long to make choices and decisions or avoid making them at all?

Do you ask everyone for their advice and opinion on something, and then come back over and over again with the same question because you’re too indecisive?

Or maybe your brain always wants to know the “but” or “what if” to every choice until it derails your decision-making by forcing you to find every alternate avenue and ultimately allows your pessimistic and cautious side to prevail over your rational and logical side.

Because, same. 

Welcome to analysis paralysis!

Where you’re trapped in an endless cycle of “should I” or “shouldn’t I”.
From deciding what coffee shop to go to, to which job you should take, you are in a perpetual state of indecisiveness and thinking things to their death. Fun right? 

I like to think I’ve gotten better at this.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it sure as hell is not the case at times. If you aren’t familiar with the phrase or don’t get the concept from my attempt at witty sentiments, I brought you a fresh Google definition. Analysis paralysis is essentially an inability to make decisions because you overthink them. You're so caught up in your fear of making the “wrong” choice, that you either take too much time to make a choice or you avoid it altogether.

And then there’s the paradox of choice.

Too much information leads to too many options, which leads to being overwhelmed. For example, let’s talk skincare products because this was a recent dilemma for me. Holy shit, the number of options is insane. From brand, to ingredient, to manufacturer, to animal cruelty, to what it does, to environmental considerations, to what it costs, to what other people are buying, to what other people are saying in the reviews. I mean, the list probably grows every day. How does one choose? And since the rise of the internet, we are only hindered further. Not only does it make us aware of every possibility and viewpoint out there, but it is the literal vehicle driving us over the edge and into the black abyss of endless choices. 

Analysis paralysis will kill your productivity, decision-making, and your happiness. 

When it comes to your personal life, you likely want to gather all the information and data you can before you make a decision. Then you look at every possible upside and downside to your options. This then leads you to look into each specific piece you find while researching the pros and cons. If you would lay this process out visually, it would look a lot like a spider diagram. All your thoughts branch out into other thoughts which then just multiply until it’s a tangled web of indecisiveness. 

So instead of narrowing anything down, you have actually made it much worse for yourself.

You went from having to make one decision, to now having multiple pathways and choices. A question about this, leads to a question about that, leads to information on this, and data about that. I think you get the point. And it just keeps going because now you have even more to differentiate between. This is an extreme explanation of how it can get out of hand. I think you can see how easily this can happen depending on the complexity of the situation. 

A fun fact to note regarding decisions in the workplace. I found this little gem from the article The Science of Analysis Paralysis: “...a 2010 LexisNexis survey showed that, on average, employees spend more than half their workdays receiving and managing information rather than using it to do their jobs”.

Every minute of our day seems to revolve around filtering through and managing information for decision-making. 

Overthinking can decrease the quality of your decision-making.

If you spend so much time overthinking and overanalyzing, chances are you really end up making a weak decision. If you spend all that time second-guessing yourself, how much confidence do you actually have in the choice you make in the end? You were so wishy-washy and back and forth, spent so much time poking holes in it, why should you believe in it?

We also tend to reach a point where we only search and seek out information that will validate what we want at that moment.

So as your mind starts to change through the process of endless research, so does what you’re looking for. You start looking for the information and data that will support whatever your mindset is at that moment. If I would have started searching for things about regret from stepping away from the bedside, I bet I would have contemplated leaving even more than I did. Because I would have started justifying my second-guessing and reservations with viewpoints and experiences from other people who wish they stayed in patient care. Instead, I stayed focused on the positives of leaving and decided that the potential for negative outcomes did not outweigh the benefits of escaping the toxicity of the bedside. Plus, I’m all about a good plan B. There is always a job out there somewhere for nurses. 

One thing that doesn’t take overthinking is to conclude how this affects your mental health. 

I can say with certainty that the dawn of the internet and the growth of instant access to literally anything you want, has given way to increased levels of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, you name it. Which, tapping into the nursing side of me again, leads to actual physical health problems as well like high blood pressure and stomach concerns.
Analysis paralysis will overstimulate you, it will prevent you from focusing, and you will feel constantly under pressure. You will end up spending so much time researching how to solve your predicament, that you won’t actually solve it. You will be so distracted by finding more information, that you won’t remain focused. You will put so much pressure on yourself, that you will mentally give up. 

All that is just to say you need to use your judgment. 

Obviously, decisions and choices that will impact your life will require way more thought and research. But it’s important to find healthy ways to manage your decision-making process. Here are some tips that can help!

• You have to learn when to stop. You have to learn when enough is truly enough, and when to let your curiosities rest. 

• Set limits and hard stops. Whether it be time limits on searching for information or limits on how much you read or both, set them and stick to them.

• Have a deadline to make a decision or pick between choices. You will never be able to read everything that is out there, especially at the rate at which information and data are produced. 

• Have the confidence that you are making the best decision at the time. One of my managers often says something to the effect of this: All decisions are good decisions because you made the best decision you could at that time with the information you had available to you. It’s okay to make a decision, to solidify a choice. Believe in yourself and know that deep down, you are capable of making a good decision with the information you have and that you don’t need to get lost in the sea of searching.

• But what if you make a choice that you end up not being happy with? You’ve just learned a lesson. It may be a hard lesson, a costly lesson but it’s not a mistake. You pick yourself back up, you brace that steely spine of yours, you hold that head up high, and you carry on. Because that’s what we do, ladies. We already have so much against us, why beat yourself up? 

• Work backward from the spider diagram. Instead of starting with the broad item of “do I buy this house or not”, start with the first couple of questions that come into your head about it and work down to your decision. 

• If you want to get even simpler, try a classic pros and cons list. I live by a good pros and cons list.

• Try to limit how much counsel you receive from others. THIS ONE IS SO IMPORTANT. Chances are that there are people out there that have an opinion about you and your life. So when it comes to making decisions, I’m sure quite a few would be more than happy to give you unsolicited advice. But even if you want to seek people out for guidance, be careful. Not everyone will look out for your well-being, not everyone will make it about you rather than themselves when they offer help, and not everyone will truly care about your concerns. I know we don’t like to think about some of these negative attributes related to people in our lives, and this might seem extreme to some people, but that doesn’t change the truth in the statement. And also remember, that even if you receive sound guidance, no two people will ever have an identical situation. They may be similar, but your situations are unique to you.  

• Do not just sit there and analyze all at once. Space it out. Don’t take blocks of hours to look at articles, posts, videos, and other resources. Take the time to digest and process. But again, keep time limits on yourself so that you know when to stop.

Until next week,

I always start writing first by utilizing my initial thoughts and feelings.
I like to follow it up by seeking out resources that add validity, confirmation, or differing opinions.
These resources helped shape this week’s post:

Healthline - Analysis Paralysis
Great tips on making healthy decisions 

Forbes - How to overcome analysis paralysis and overthinking
More excellent tips 

Blog - Analysis paralysis and productivity
Effects of analysis paralysis

The Decision Lab - The paradox of choice
Deep dive into the history of the paradox of choice and having unlimited access to endless information