How To Stop Analysis Paralysis: 8 Important Tips

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Analysis Paralysis

Have you faced analysis paralysis before? Do you tend to overthink your choices, to the point where you feel paralyzed and don’t make a decision?

If so, you’re not alone. Analysis paralysis is the state of overthinking a decision to the point that a choice never gets made. You face analysis paralysis when you…

  • are overwhelmed by the available options,
  • over-complicate the decision when it’s supposed to be quite a simple one,
  • feel compelled to pick the “best” and “perfect” choice, thereby delaying any decision until you do your research, or
  • feel a deep fear of making a wrong move, hence stalling yourself from making any decision, in case you make the wrong choice.

8 Tips to Overcome Analysis Paralysis

If you often face analysis paralysis, you are at the right place. As a perfectionist, I tended to face analysis paralysis for many of my decisions until I started changing my mindset and approach.

In this guide, I share 8 tips to break out of analysis paralysis. Note that this guide is best for short to mid-term decisions — for tips to break out of difficult life decisions, go here.

1) Differentiate between big and small decisions

The first step to cracking decision-making paralysis is to differentiate between big and small decisions, after which you give the decision a level of attention based on its importance.

3 questions to differentiate between big and small decisions:

  1. How important is this decision?
  2. Will this impact me a year from now?
  3. What’s the worst thing that could happen?

If the decision isn’t going to make a big difference a year from now and there are no serious consequences that will come out of it, then it is a small decision. Spend as little time as you need to nail this. Then, let go.

If the decision will have a major impact after a year and there are serious implications from making the wrong choice (such as marrying someone you don’t love), then it’s a big decision. Set aside time to think about it. Read my guide How To Make Life’s Hardest Decisions: 3 Decision Making Methods. For everything in between, give it some thought but don’t let it drag on for too long.

Using these 3 questions, you’ll find that few decisions are as important as you think. Most decisions have little impact on our lives. Only a small handful have the ability to affect our lives in the long run.

Examples of small decisions:

  • Which hair conditioner to buy
  • What color cable clips to buy
  • What to eat for dinner (assuming you’re already making good food choices)

Examples of mid-term decisions:

  • Whether to end a relationship
  • Whether to collaborate with someone on a project
  • Where to get your new home

Examples of big decisions:

2) Identify your objective

Last week I had a coaching call with a client who asked me for advice between two job options. The first is to remain in his current job — a well-paying job, living where he is now, in a stable work environment and country. The other is a job overseas — a bustling city, a dynamic job with great responsibilities, in an environment he has never been in before.

Both jobs have their pros and cons. The former offers security and great financial rewards with a manageable job scope. The latter offers immense personal growth with some degree of uncertainty and pressure as everything will be new to him.

So I asked my client, “What is your vision for your life for the next few years?”

He said that he’s sick of the predictability in his routine. He feels that everything is the same in his current job and he’s not learning much. He feels that his goal for the coming period is to grow, learn about different things, and see other things in life. As he is in his early 30s, now is the best time to explore the world.

Then I said, “I think you just answered your own question. :) ” He went into deep thought for a few seconds, then he nodded and smiled.

Every option has its pros and cons. Without knowing your end objective, you’ll forever be debating the relative pros and cons of each choice without a meaningful conclusion.

  1. Before you dig into the options for your decision, ask yourself: “What is my end objective? What do I want to get out of this decision?” Identify your top two objectives, maximum three.
  2. Evaluate your choices based on your objective(s).
  3. As you do that, you will find that some options will stand out more strongly than the rest. These are the options you want to look at.

3) Perfection is not the key. “Moderately okay” is.

Unless you are dealing with a life-altering decision like who to marry and what career path to choose, perfection is not the key. Your goal is to pick a moderately “okay” choice in a fair amount of time, and then move on.

This may be shocking or reckless to some people, especially perfectionists. Shouldn’t perfection be our goal in everything we do? Well, not quite.

As a perfectionist, I’ve learned the hard way that every option has its pros and cons. Every option has its own set of considerations. The perfect choice is almost never available right there and then for every decision — it’s something that you have to hunt down and/or create. Because of that, picking the perfect choice comes at a very high cost, which means that making the perfect choice is a costly process.

The 80/20 principle comes into play: It takes 20% effort to achieve 80% of the gain of a decision. But to nail down the final 20% gain to achieve a 100% perfect outcome, you need to invest a huge amount of effort. This effort needs to be justified by the importance of the decision, which is why tip #1 is about differentiating between big and small decisions.

This means, either you

  1. Spend 10 hours (ballpark estimate) to hunt for the perfect choice in every decision. 10 decisions will take you 100 hours. Not to mention, all of us have a limited amount of mental energy to make decisions each day. This means realistically you only have enough brain power to make X good decisions each day, after which other decisions need to be deferred to the next day. OR
  2. Spend minimal time to make a moderately okay choice. Then, move on. Work on making the best out of your choice.

In scenario #2, because you take time to make an okay decision, you avoid the pitfalls of a terrible choice. At the same time, the time you save from not hunting down the perfect choice can be used to create value in other life areas. Even if your choice turns out to be not-so-good, (a) the act of selecting and moving on will help you achieve 10X more than being stuck in analysis paralysis, and (b) you use this experience to improve in future decisions.

Again, this applies to short- to mid-term decisions. If the decision has severe consequences, then take time to make the perfect choice. Read this guide instead.

4) Eliminate the bad options

When you have too many options, it clutters the decision-making process. One tip I give to my clients is to list all the available options. Then, eliminate the bad ones. You should be left with 3-4 options, which makes it easier to choose. Evaluate the remaining options against your end objective (see tip #2).

5) Let go of your childhood stories

I used to face severe analysis paralysis with purchase decisions. This was especially so with small ticket items that cost a few dollars or dozens or dollars, not business investments or big-ticket items costing hundreds to thousands of dollars. Funny, right?

Why is that? Since young, my dad repeatedly reminded me to be frugal. Every day, he would say to me, “钱很难赚,不要乱乱花” (in Mandarin, meaning “It’s hard to earn money. Don’t spend it carelessly”). Even though I’m already quite frugal, my dad kept criticizing me over many purchases because he felt that they were a waste of money. The items he would criticize were physical things in his sight, like stationery, household items, or clothes/shoes that I bought (but never excessively).

Such incidents built up over time — what I call childhood stories — made me very sensitive about buying anything. I would spend endless time bouncing back and forth between buying item A and item B when there were minuscule differences between the two. If I bought the “wrong” thing, I would be filled with regret.

Here, my analysis paralysis with such purchases was due to the childhood story with my dad. It had nothing to do with what I was trying to buy because logically my life wasn’t going to be destroyed by a wrong $1 purchase.

Another reason was that I grew up in an education system where there is no margin for error. In school, every little mistake we made was harshly criticized. We were taught to perceive every mistake as irreversible and life-changing. Teachers would punish us for making mistakes, such as asking us to slap ourselves or screaming at the student who made the mistake in front of everyone.

The belief that I formed during this period was “Mistakes are bad, mistakes can never be erased, and I’m a bad person if I allow mistakes to happen.”

Mentally wrapped up in these two stories, I became irrationally fearful of bad choices. Is this the best choice? Is there a better option? What if I don’t like this later on? What if there are hidden cons? That would mean that I have made a bad decision! I was often conflicted over small purchase decisions. I would avoid making any purchases so that I wouldn’t make a bad choice and regret it later.

Eventually, I realized that I was living in the shadow of these stories. Every decision has its pros and cons, and it’s ridiculous to think that I have made a bad choice just because I don’t like some things about it. Even if I have made a bad choice, it’s silly to beat myself up over it since it’s about learning and moving along. It’s more important to learn and focus on the positive, not the negative — of which the latter is something that the Asian culture is obsessed about.

If you constantly freeze when making decisions, perhaps you have a childhood story driving your behavior. My question to you: Do you have a childhood story driving your analysis paralysis? Why does it affect you so? How can you let it go?

More on childhood stories and how to let go of them: What Childhood Stories Are You Replaying Today?

6) Set a time limit

Do you know the Parkinson’s Law? Parkinson’s Law says, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” What this means is that your work will take however long you allow it to take. If you set aside 15 minutes for a task, it’ll take 15 minutes. If you set aside 30 minutes, it’ll take 30 minutes. If you don’t set a time limit, it may take forever!

This is the same in decision-making. When you don’t set a time limit for your decisions, each decision can expand to take up your entire consciousness as you find new details to analyze.

To solve this, set a time limit. Your time limit should be based on the importance of the decision (see tip #1). Personally, I set aside no more than a few minutes for small decisions, and no more than a week for mid-level decisions. For big decisions, I take as long as I need, though I usually come to a conclusion in two months.

If you haven’t made up your mind by then, make the best choice based on the available information. Remember that this time limit is based on the importance of the decision. Spending more time than needed means letting the decision take up more time than it is worth. Close it and move on to other things.

7) Get a trusted opinion

I often do this when I’m buying something or creating a graphic and can’t make up my mind. Usually I narrow it down to two options, and then I ask someone for their opinion. If their recommendation makes sense, I will go with it. If not, I will pick the one I prefer. Either way, getting their opinion helps me arrive at an answer faster.

Consult someone with insight into what you’re asking about. For example, if I’m buying a video camera for my YouTube channel, I’ll ask someone with knowledge of video cameras, not some random guy. If I want to start an online business, I’ll ask someone with proven success in online businesses, not people who have never started a business before. For this reason, I find it worthwhile to pay and get expert advice from specialists who know what they are doing. It helps me cut through the noise, get the information I need, and make the right choice.

Check out Day 16 of Be a Better Me in 30 Days on seeking advice.

8) Channel your energy into bigger goals

If you are obsessing about every little thing even though it has no big impact, perhaps you have outgrown your routine. It’s time to channel your energy into bigger goals.

Whenever I obsess about little things, I see it as a sign that I have excess energy that is not being put to good use. “What are my bigger goals that I can work on right now?” I would ask myself. Be it creating new articles, producing new videos, or launching a new project, I would work on these right away. As I shift my focus to my bigger goals, I gain perspective and interestingly, become decisive with the little decisions.

If you often face analysis paralysis with little decisions, here is my question to you: What are your goals for the next few years? Is there any goal you are procrastinating on? Work on them instead. As you shift your focus to your higher-level goals, you gain more experience and become better at making good decisions quickly.

To You

Do you experience analysis paralysis? How can you break out of your analysis paralysis using the tips above? :)

This article is about tackling day-to-day decisions. For tackling hard, long-term decisions, read How To Make Life’s Hardest Decisions: 3 Decision Making Methods

22 comments
  1. Victor Hin 11 years ago

    thanks for the great tips, Celes!! epsically to a person who is a procrastinator and a perfectionist like :P so tip# 7 ans 10 work best on me here. looking forward for more again!!

  2. This is brilliant, from #5: ‘On the other hand, when you invest extra time and energy to identify the
    “best of the best” option, not only do you waste time and energy, you
    will still feel bad in the end because your mindset is one that’s
    focused on identifying “gaps” and issues.”’ Also 6 and 10 were good. Thank you!

  3. Great article Celes, thanks for sharing as always! Can relate to this, I have analysis paralysis over something as small as deciding lunch sometimes! And yet other times I make an impulsive decision (and find those are the best!). Will try and implement your learning to speed my process up.

  4. Miisa Mink 11 years ago

    #5 PIck on and don’t look back – That’s a great one! My father used to say that if you have difficulty in choosing between options then it can only mean one thing: all options are more or less equal so you can’t really make a big mistake. Just go for it! Great list, thank you.

    • Celes
      Celes 11 years ago

      What you said, Miisa! I also think that it’s a matter of attitude — if we are always focused on the negative aspects of a situation, then it doesn’t matter how good the choice is as we will focus on the negative parts of the decision even if it is good. Just picking one and go, then focusing on the positive aspects of whatever decision you choose, is the key to making it work out I believe.

  5. Glenn Thomas 11 years ago

    Hi Celes, this a good article. I used to have a problem with this too. Well, to a certain extent. Mostly when eating out. If I was shopping at a mall for example and was hungry. Since there aren’t many healthy options in malls, I’d find myself wandering past all the usual fast food joints trying to decide what to get. But since I was never satisfied with what was there, now I just don’t eat there. And instead will travel to somewhere else that’s nice. Or at least just pick up some inari from a sushi place in the mall, and then go somewhere else.

    I used to be bad with buying gear too, but thankfully I don’t seem to have a problem there anymore too. When our house was broken into a few weeks back and they took my camera, instead of evaluating a whole bunch of different cameras to replace it with, instead, the next day I immediately went and bought what is essentially a newer and updated version of my old camera. I didn’t bother checking other brands, even though some may have been better.

    Limiting your options is something else I would highly recommend. I guess like Steve Jobs wearing the same clothes all the time so he doesn’t have to make a decision what to wear, or Obama eating the same sandwich every day, so he doesn’t have to waste timedeciding what to eat. Zuckerberg is the same too, as he wears the same clothes all the time. Here’s a photo I posted a couple of months back – http://instagram.com/p/lBdN5Np90z/ Which is the same thing really.

    • Celes
      Celes 11 years ago

      Hey Glenn, limiting your options is definitely a good step — great call. I do that for decisions which aren’t extremely important. I find that the more options I get, the more confused I become! And that includes food too — once I find a good food item that I like, then I just stick to eating that same thing for the next 1-2 months (or as long as it takes for me to become sick of that thing). I believe having a routine established for daily mundane activities help us to channel our energy into the high-value activities.

      Nice one regarding your shoe-wearing routine! I want to get a Vibram soon — it helps make barefoot running safer! Do you recommend your brand?

      • Glenn Thomas 11 years ago

        Hi Celes, yes, you sound like you’re on the right track sticking to one food item for as long as you can. I’m going to do banana island for a couple of months. I just need to find somewhere I can buy boxes of bananas cheap.

        And the Vibrams, yes, I highly recommend them. The Vibram Bikila’s I have now especially. So much better than normal shoes or runners. You can walk around in them all day without your feet ever becoming tired or sore. If you do get a pair though, make sure they’re the real thing. The old pair I’d bought off eBay turned out to be fake, and they were horrible. Nothing like the real thing. I bought mine from an adventure store who are a local distributer. You can also check what size you need via a chart on the Vibram website by putting your foot against the wall and measuring it to the big toe. I get a lot of stares though. Wherever I go there’s always somebody staring at my feet :)

  6. Sheila Makena 11 years ago

    Hi Celes,
    As always, superbly written article! I relate most to Tip #6 that has to do with childhood experiences. I too came from a school background where we were shamed for making mistakes. Thankfully I left it when I was in primary school to join a different system. Anyway, you bring up such amazing, well thought out and researched points. Thank you for always giving such premium articles at no cost to us but our time!

  7. Jackson Nyarko 11 years ago

    Hi Celes, I’ve not completed reading this article but. I’ve already had my share and I think many others would learn a lot from this as I would. Thanks so much. And hey, the infographics that were posted recently, they are great. God bless you so much. For me, I use to be a little skeptic about checking mails everyday, but bcos of ur posts I receive I want to check my mail everyday for whats new. Tanx once again.

    • Celes
      Celes 11 years ago

      Thank you Jackson! You encourage me to continue writing and sharing more. I strive to attain a certain quality in all my material, and that’s why the content at PE isn’t as frequent as some other blogs, but each article will always have high value. I hope to post most regularly in June, after my wedding and honeymoon.

  8. yoshi_in_black 11 years ago

    Thank you very much for your tips. I usually “force” a decision by flipping a coin if it’s a small decision. But if I don’t like the outcome, I just pick the other option instead. This works pretty well for me.

    • JadePenguin 11 years ago

      Haha, I was just suggesting this to my partner last weekend at a vegan fair, when deciding what food to buy :P (Although I eventually just picked something)

  9. maximyou.com 11 years ago

    Wow – you sure pack a lot of valuable tips into just one post!

    For what it might be worth, one of the most effective tools I stumbled upon in my quest to defeat procrastination once and for all, I call STAR – the Study To Action Ratio. Simply put, track the time spent on study versus the time spent taking action, then make sure it’s 1:10 or better (10 hours of action for every hour spent studying – or better).

    We all know people who study less yet are more successful – they are the ones with the low STARs. I noticed they follow any studying by taking action immediately (regardless of fear, worry or discomfort). They prefer short study periods over long ones, are always looking for ways to chunk periods of study into a series of shorter periods – creating room for action in between. They force themselves to “earn study points” by first putting in at least ten times the amount of study time into action.

    And I certainly agree, intense periods of studying and learning, immediately followed by action, does not only boost productivity, it also prevents procrastination and information overload – a win-win overall.

    There, my two pence worth :-]

  10. JadePenguin 11 years ago

    Haha, this comes slightly late for me; I surely had lots of this in the past! It’s usually less about consumer choices for me and more about “what to do?” choices, especially at work. In the work scenario, I have to quickly pick something not to be seen as idling!

    BTW, psychology experiments have shown that when people make a decision, they will later increase their liking for that decision (like when initially two holiday packages are rated as 4/5, later the one you chose becomes a 5 and the one you didn’t choose becomes a 2 – convenient ey? :) )

    • Celes
      Celes 11 years ago

      That is very interesting Jade! I can see how that is true for myself. While I won’t necessarily downgrade the options I didn’t take on (since I haven’t experienced for myself), I do see how an option which I’ve taken on and had an overall good experience gets a very high score, whereas an option which I’ve tried and had a slight negative experience (and then abandoned thereafter) gets a negative score and recommendation. This is something I’ve observed in my experience with wedding vendors.

  11. Rishabh Prabhakar 11 years ago

    Hi there,

    I am Rish and I live in Canada. My aim in life is to become an actor in the Indian cinema.

    My background : I was born in Delhi, India and moved to study and later started work in Canada. Reason being my father wanted to get settled here since 1993 but he couldn’t so he wanted me to kind of fulfill his dream. Also my fiance lives here as well but she knows about my passion and wants me to fulfill them as well.
    I have always struggled with this analysis paralysis problem since childhood and I believe it’s because of the reasons you mentioned regarding the way the society taught us when we were younger that making a mistake is irreversible etc.
    Because of this problem which I now figured out I have, I could never show my parents or anyone my potential and try it out. After which my parents were against the decision and say that I never really talked to them about it so where did this acting thing is coming from.
    I’m still not too sure if I should go ahead and get into acting because of this damn analysis paralysis issue. I would really appreciate If anyone would like to share some suggestions,

  12. It’s amazing how almost every walk of life and every occupation field is ripe with analysis paralysis. In the moment, being paralyzed in our exploration of our focus always sounds so reasonable, it’s easy to be caught up in not moving forward. Thanks for the article, Celestine!

  13. I’m currently a senior HS, its exam week, my focus is on studying Algebra, Geometry, and AP Eng Lit. But I don’t know which to do first, and if I do pick one, I don’t know where to begin in the chosen subject, this problem has me in AnPa mode for the entire day, only for the same thing to happen the next day.

    • Celes
      Celes 10 years ago

      Hi Mumu, you may have realized for yourself that not choosing any to study in the end results in a deadlock which leaves you in a worse place than if you just picked one and go to begin with! Perhaps creating a study plan on how you’re going to study everything in time for each paper will help, after which you can then follow the plan.

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