The Perils of Analysis Paralysis and Some Strategies to Overcome It
A couple of days ago, I stared at my closet debating whether I should wear my brand new blue shirt or my reliable old blue shirt. Here’s an inside look inside of my head:
Well, I knew my new blue shirt would make me look great. but my old blue shirt will make me feel comfortable. However, I bought the new blue shirt because the old one is just…old, maybe I should just get rid of the old blue shirt. On the other hand, my old blue shirt has never let me down, wait, what was I thinking why do I need a new blue shirt?
Sounds familiar? Well, after about 15 minutes of grueling debate, I made my decision…no decision at all.
If you’re wondering whether I actually made a decision, I did end up choosing a shirt (I won’t tell which one until the end of the post). But this conundrum we fall into happens all the time, from the mundane choice of daily apparel to the ever-important breakfast option: Pancakes or waffles…or both! When we exaggerate a decision’s significance, we get trapped. Yet, it’s what the majority of us face on a constant basis: analysis paralysis, which Psychology Today defines as a situation where we overthink a situation, also known as spiraling, to the point where we can’t make a decision at all.
So today, let’s go on a…decided journey to discover the instigators of analysis paralysis and dig ourselves out of this rabbit hole.
The idea of analysis paralysis has been around for centuries in ancient stories, children’s books, and even simple idioms, such as a deer in headlights. The Fox and the Cat is another occurrence of analysis paralysis written by the ancient Greek, Aesop. When the hunters come, the cat simply escapes up the tree, and the fox struggles to make a choice out of his hundreds of possibilities, all the while hearing the hunters get closer and closer. As expected, the fox is caught. Just like that deer that panics in the middle of the road and the fox, our analysis paralysis is caused by two main factors: choice overload and fear of making mistakes.
- Choice overload: We often perceive the need for more information as beneficial, but it can actually become a hindrance. A June 2019 Forbes article explains a famous experiment, in which Columbia professor Sheena Iyengar offered 24 different jams on one table, and 6 different jams on another. The grocery store’s customers who were given 6 options purchased jams 10 times as often as those who had been given 24 options. This reveals that as our number of choices increases, our decision-making process gets tangled in evaluating all the pros and cons of each flavor, making it impossible to make a choice. Psychologist Barry Schwartz claims that a plethora of alternatives actually makes us imagine more hypothetical situations, which in turn, causes us to spiral towards analysis paralysis because we are so busy analyzing all the data. In his book, The Paradox of Choice, he writes, “The existence of multiple alternatives makes it easy for us to imagine alternatives that don’t exist — alternatives that combine the attractive features of the ones that do exist. And to the extent that we engage our imaginations in this way, we will be even less satisfied with the alternative we end up choosing.” So really, too much analysis paralyzes us.
- Fear of Making Mistakes: We’ve all heard the expression “it’s ok to make mistakes in life.” Yet, we still want to avoid mistakes regularly, triggering analysis paralysis. In a September 2019 article, executive coach Tom Stimson writes that people typically gather as much information as possible, hoping to avoid mistakes. But, mistakes are not just inevitable. They are valuable stepping stones, and if we avoid them, we can’t grow. Instead, we sometimes obsess over perfection, which may seem motivating, right? But it’s actually counterproductive. An April 2018 Harvard Business Review article illustrates that when we impose very strict, yet unattainable requirements, it takes us longer to make a decision. Because we seek perfection, we avoid mistakes, which causes us to neglect the options right in front of our eyes and seek unattainable solutions that keep us from going anywhere in life, just like that deer.
So, in that shirt-choosing conundrum, I was left confused in my closet because I was paralyzed. However, if we continue to fall towards this rabbit hole, the two long-term effects can hinder our growth: analysis paralysis kills productivity and reduces happiness.
- Kills Productivity: Our brain contains a working memory, which the National Center for Biotechnology Information defines as “the small amount of information that can be held in mind.” Marketing coach Drew Kairos says that pressurizing ourselves to make the best decision correlates with lower performance on cognitive jobs. And these jobs rely on our working memory, which therefore drains our capacity and willpower, too. A Stanford study also highlights how overthinking affects our creativity. Participants drew a series of pictures based on action words, and the MRI scans proved that the more you think about it, the more you mess it up. Normally, we think the opposite, but overthinking instills anxiety that rushes us to perform at a subpar level.
- Reduces Happiness: Happiness is the most essential part of our well-being. In fact, a study by Swarthmore College “revealed negative correlations between overanalysis and happiness and self-esteem, and positive correlations with depression.” So, when we try to seek the best, we get stuck obsessing over the little things because we keep questioning ourselves. We think back to what we could have done instead, lowering our happiness.
If I only had Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon with me that at that crucial moment — he would help me pick out a shirt! Simon concludes that our two solutions are: don’ become consumed by decision making and satisfice (satisfy and suffice combo), as that is the best way to move forward when making a decision.
- Don’t Let Decision-Making Consume You: A May 2020 BBC article says that our work will only become complicated if we don’t set a time limit. So, devote a small amount of time to making a decision so you don’t drag your focus away from more important things. 15 min, make a decision, move on. Challenge yourself to choose a Netflix show in 2 minutes, because come on, how can choosing a wrong show paralyze you? Also, in an April 2020 Healthline Article, psychotherapist Vicki Botnick notes that we must allow our anxiety to flow through us. So, embrace that happiness so your anxiety becomes your friend, not your enemy.
- Satisfice, Don’t Maximize: According to psychologist and Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon, we make decisions in one of two ways: either we satisfice, which means choosing the first option that suits our needs. Or we maximize, meaning we don’t settle on what we are given and rather we seek better alternatives. So why satisfice and not maximize? Swarthmore College highlights that maximizers ponder all information about each alternative. And because of this, perfectionists are reluctant to declare a decision as “unimportant,” an August 2020 Harvard Business Review article says we can categorize decisions based on urgency and importance. If it’s more urgent, delegate, and if it’s more important, schedule a time to do it later. If it’s both, do it now, and if it’s neither, throw it in the trash. In this way, prioritizing decisions and learning from past outcomes can help you tackle decisions effectively. Just accept that you can’t make a perfect choice, there’s no harm in that.
So in this post, we debunked common misconceptions, analyzed the instigators of analysis paralysis, and put forth strategies so you can become more decisive. In a world full of massive choices, we humans must empower ourselves to be straightforward thinkers because our lives are full of other things that require much more focus rather than deciding what shirt to wear.
Next time, don’t overthink a simple shirt choice. Maybe try a white shirt (that’s what I ended up choosing).
Just don’t obsess. Trust the process.
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