How to Avoid Overthinking When Making a Choice

In life, there is no such thing as a single path that leads to all destinations, and the decisions you make can either guide you to the right chapter of your life or lead you down the wrong path. While advice can clarify a particular point, it can also lead you away from your goals. Make a decision based on your story, not someone else's. And remember to listen to your instinct. It's never a good idea to overthink a decision, so make sure to be sure to ask yourself what you really feel.


Limiting the number of options
One way to improve the quality of your decision-making is by limiting the number of choices you present. Offering too many choices can cause decision fatigue or analysis paralysis. Limiting the options you present to a small number allows you to focus your analysis on only the most compelling contenders. Try to eliminate a few options at a time based on one or two key attributes of each option. Avoid using criteria that require judgement calls. Judgment calls slow the decision-making process, and can cause your brain to switch modes.

Finding more than one possible alternative
Often, we rush to make a decision without fully considering all possible alternatives. By generating more than one possible alternative, we are much more likely to choose the one that is objectively the best choice. We must consider the options of the different stakeholders. After identifying the pros and cons of each option, we must eliminate the options that we deem not feasible. Using a technique called brainstorming can help us to come up with more options.

Listening to your gut
Experts often tell us not to trust our gut when making a decision, but science has proven that listening to our gut is a better way to make decisions. According to a Stanford psychologist, 68 percent of the time, gut feelings are right. Likewise, a gut check on a new product design can steer the creative process in the right direction. Using your intuition is essential for making good decisions, but it is also important to distinguish between gut feelings and internal fears.

Avoiding overthinking
Among the best ways to avoid overthinking when making a decision is to learn how to recognize the signs of overthinking. Overthinking often results in feeling overwhelmed with the options and inability to make a decision. If you catch yourself overthinking, pause, tell yourself to stop, and then move on. There is no point in wallowing in your own indecision. Instead, use that time to do something different.

Choosing based on other people's opinions
If you're facing a difficult decision, it's important not to be "decisive." Impulsive decisions can result in negative consequences for the group as it closes off discussion and input before all views and information are presented. When people disagree with your decision, they won't feel as though they're being heard and can sabotage your decision-making process.


Choosing based on social pressure
We've all felt peer pressure from time to time, whether it is from an influential person or a group of friends. While fitting in is natural for many people, for others, it involves making changes to your views, choices, and outlooks. Although social pressure is a natural part of human life, it can be problematic. Here are some common examples of how it can affect your choices. Let's explore each of these in turn.