Rehashing the same thing over and over again in your brain won’t increase your chances of making a better decision.
Yet, that’s what we often tend to do.
Think the same things through again.
Again.
And again.
Because we believe that thinking things through again somehow will help us to magically see the light.
I got this reminder when getting a manicure + pedicure this past Friday.
While I was getting pampered, the lady sitting next to me was getting a manicure and was pondering what color to pick.
While her nail stylist was prepping her nails, she had been going back and forth between something pink, or maybe something grey?
Or what about green?
Or that blue was lovely too!
Or should she just go for that vibrant red?
And then, 15 minutes later, nails all prepped, she had to decide which color to pick.
And she couldn’t.
And the thing is, going through her options over and over again, didn’t actually help her make a decision.
It simply kept her stuck in confusion.
There was no new information to take into account.
No new insights to make a choice.
No new data to make the “right” decision and avoid the “wrong” one.
The only way to move forward was to simply make a decision.
Pick a color.
Any color.
And then evaluate.
Like the color? Great.
Don’t like the color? Great too.
Because now you know.
NOW you got NEW information to take into account for making a “better” decision.
And it’s only through making that FIRST decision – with what you know at THAT time – that you can make that SECOND decision.
Better informed.
More aligned.
Not because you thought everything through one more time.
But because you made that first “best guess” choice.
That “first iteration” decision.
That “let’s get started” choice.
Are there any areas in your life where you find yourself overhinking?
Rehashing the same thing over and over again?
In the hopes that clarity will come from thinking things through one more time?
Ask yourself – what micro-action can I take to gather some new information?
Take that micro-decision.
Take that micro-action.
Gather that intel through doing.
Evaluate that information.
And then let THAT new input inform your NEXT decision.
No hours, days, months, years spent overthinking.
Draining your energy.
Taxing your brain.
But hours, days, months, years spent doing, evaluating, adjusting.
Boosting your clarity, peace of mind, progress and results.
Blowing your mind.