How do you make decisions?
Photo by Robert Ruggiero on Unsplash
The past 1 week has been crazy for me!! Crazy is the closest word I can use to describe it. Though this kind of crazy is not like the one that happens in Lagos traffic—that one is on another level!
Okay, enough of playing around (My Lagos people no vex). This past week I was stuck! I had a glimpse of what it's like to suffer from information paralysis. I usually pride myself on being able to make quick decisions on what I want without looking back, but this time was different. I just couldn’t make a decision. I found myself overwhelmed with the options and before I knew it, I was overthinking and overcomplicating an issue that started out as a simple yes or no. I tasted what it’s like to have fear about making the wrong choice in the face of uncertainties.
Now I realize how bad it is for friends who get stuck making a decision. I am always that person to say "Oh why is it so hard to make a decision? Why is it taking you so much time? You should make a decision and get moving". In retrospect, I should have been kinder and understand that people process things differently.
So for my situation, I was trying to make a decision on whether to accept a job opportunity or not. Four months ago, I would have been the happiest person to work in this organization but now I had conflicting emotions.
My usual way of making decisions would have involved asking myself:
Do you really want it?
What are the pros and cons?
What are the long-term benefits or consequences of this action?
Then also try to speak with people who are knowledgeable about it or have had experience going through making the same decision. I tried all these but I was still unable to bring myself to commit to a decision. It was really frustrating for me and even while sleeping, I was subconsciously trying to come to terms with a solution.
This went on for 2 days and then I decided to pray and trust God about whatever decision I made. It’s funny how initially I thought I could figure it out on my own and know what's best for me, but I was totally wrong! So after I had prayed, I found myself still scared, but instead of feeding my fear, I chose to feed my faith. I did this by trusting in God’s goodness and just meditating on his word about his promises for my life. If you are going through uncertain times, you should check out this plan from you version—this plan has been an absolute blessing for me in this season of my life.
In the end, these are some reasons which I realized get us stuck in making decisions
Perfectionism: Trying to be a perfectionist can be very crippling and gets us stuck because we don’t want to make the wrong choice. Also, it is something that forever keeps you in the decision-making loop because the truth is there is always an iota of uncertainty in every decision we make. So instead of obsessing over making perfect choices or being a perfectionist, I have come to realize that nobody is perfect and I am not perfect either. So I am going to set a realistic benchmark and make my decision
Fear of Failure: Sometimes that fear of failure can prevent us from making a decision that we think might hinder our progress. We tend to forget that even when we fail we can get right up and begin again and this time we have the experience to do it better. Embracing the fact that we will not always get it right can be helpful and knowing that through every life experience and process, we are growing and becoming better can encourage us to take steps in fear and uncertainty
Do any of these reasons resonate with you? Or what other reasons get you stuck in making a decision? And how do you handle it? I would really love to hear back from you
