If you are swamped by a wealth of possibility or a wealth of options, making a decision can be paralyzing. But life moves forward inexorably. Chances are that the decision doesn't warrant you taking a huge amount of time. You need to decide, so that you can move forward with life at the pace that life itself moves forward.
I remember times when it took 4 hours to pick out a knapsack, or 2 h to choose a cordless drill. Part of this was driven frugality... I wanted to spend the money I had wisely, because I did not want to revisit these choices for years. Nonetheless, in retrospect, that amount of time on these decisions seems silly. Thankfully over time, I've learned a few strategies to make decisions go faster:
- Before I even go to take action, plan what is important to me. Do I have any goals or principles that guide the choice? Is deciding not to do something or buy something also one of my options?
- Plan a time limit. How much is a reasonable amount of time to spend on a given decision? To some extent, the duration that you must live with the decision governs the amount of time you should spend on it. If you can never go back and the consequences are forever, it's worth thinking through more carefully. On the other hand, you only have a limited amount of time, and how much of that can you actually take on that decision.
- Work through some of the strategies I posted here: http://www.sleepfoodexercise.com/2017/01/how-to-deal-with-feeling-overwhelmed.html
- Finally, the title of this post: Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If you have to respond or choose something within a limited time limit, you have to choose something. You will never have 100% of information that you need. At some point, you need to act on limited information. All you can do is get the best information you can, understand yourself and your surroundings the best you can, and then make the best choice you can with that information. Maybe with new information you can revisit that choice. Otherwise, go and move on to new things. You have other things to do!
The bottom line here is that perfectionism can push you towards quality in your work and choices, or it can push you off the cliff with unreachable standards. Idealism is a counterpart to perfectionism, because with idealism, you are always reaching towards an ideal, while in the real world, nothing is ideal, nothing is perfect. Rather than trying to perfect anything, come to terms with being flawed, in a flawed world, surrounded by flawed people. In such a world, what is the best use of your time? Go work on goals or stuff you care about. Flaws are what makes the world perfect, and far richer and more interesting than if everything was flawless.
Striving towards an ideal can help you clarify and focus your life, but it is important to learn the distinction between striving towards a better situation versus expecting to live in perfection. Ultimately, learning to give up perfectionism and expectations of perfection in decisions and in people and in yourself will help you be more efficient and much happier.
Update 2018-4-17
The wikipedia page on Analysis Paralysis provides some additional strategies and comment related to this post. Also, I hadn't realized until now, but the title of this post is a paraphrase of a quote by Voltaire. I'm back to reading my own writing here because it is important to remember things that have worked in the past. I'm currently facing more time-limited decisions.
Update 2018-4-17
The wikipedia page on Analysis Paralysis provides some additional strategies and comment related to this post. Also, I hadn't realized until now, but the title of this post is a paraphrase of a quote by Voltaire. I'm back to reading my own writing here because it is important to remember things that have worked in the past. I'm currently facing more time-limited decisions.
