The cycle of Analysis Paralysis

Have you ever searched for a product on Amazon and spent hours reading its product reviews and looking for the best alternatives, without actually buying the product? Or have you ever scrolled through the menu of your favorite restaurant and got indecisive between two dishes that you wanted to order? This is called Analysis Paralysis, a situation where you are not able to take a decision owing to the abundance of information available to you.

This is one reason why Mark Twain said, “Data is like garbage. You’d better know what you are going to do with it before you collect it.” Otherwise, you will end up gathering a plethora of pros and cons of everything and never end up making a solid decision.

Overthinking can be for real at times and even leaders are bound to get caught in the moment but as a New Gen Leader, you cannot let yourself lose at this game. So can you do something about this? Nothing, no matter how far-fetched, is outside the realm of possibility. It will take a considerable amount of effort and you will be there. You can start by:

• Limiting your information intake

• Understanding your end goal

• Setting deadlines for decision-making according to your priority list

• Putting aside perfectionism and right-sizing the problem

At IIC we combat this problem by following simple practices every day, consistently like making a to-do list every morning, collaborative work models, and keeping an open door system so that when in doubt, our members can reach each other for help.