Do You Struggle with Indecision? by Marc LeVine

“Indecision is the thief of opportunity.” ―?Jim Rohn

We recently addressed decision-making in another post.?We should agree that being decisive is an admirable ability, if we are not impulsive, as well.?The two traits are highly incompatible and severely problematic.

While being decisive earns admiration from many, being indecisive calls for attention and remedy by whosever's success is limited by its effects.?

Indecisiveness can be described as a chronic procrastination that happens when someone must make a stressful decision and feels overwhelmed by the often-stark number of choices. They often end up searching for information and claim they never got around to making the final decision. Like behavioral procrastination, indecision leads to anxiety, worry, regret, shame, rumination, and ultimately negatively impacts one’s quality of life, social life, and well-being.

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It is tough struggling to make decisions and some are often unable or unwilling to.?A family member of mine tends to be indecisive and is often unable to even decide which restaurant she would prefer to have dinner at.?There are many tougher decisions in life than that one and her struggle only deepens as the decisions required to be made ramp up.???

Other examples of indecisiveness include:

• Customers that are unable to decide which item to purchase.
• Athletic coaches who have great difficulty deciding which plays to run in a game.
• Managers, who struggle with deciding what task to assign to which team member.

What’s going on in their heads at those moments??Simple. The fear of being wrong and what might happen to them if they are.?The shopper might overpay for something that doesn’t look good on him or her.?The coach may lose the game and be blamed for the loss.?The manager may be criticized by his or her CEO.?Missing here is self-confidence and the ability to take risks.?A confident personality is comfortable deciding based on knowledge and experience and then letting the chips fall where they may.?They are not paralyzed by fear. They act.

I have an admission to make.?I used to struggle with making decisions until I realized that I had the necessary tools to make the right ones more often than not.?I understand that decision-making is a form of gambling and that we are not winners all the time.?And I also learned that not every failure to make the right decision is catastrophic, though some can be.?We do our best to choose correctly and agree to live with and learn from our results.

Indecisiveness often comes from having low self-confidence, self-doubt, fear of failure, being too sensitive, feeling overwhelmed, or reacting strongly to emotions. The symptoms may not always be benign and professional help may be required in some cases because indecisiveness can also be a symptom of some mental health conditions. These may include ADHD, depression, or PTSD1.

Under most normal circumstances, among the best ways to overcome indecisiveness is to know what you want and why, prioritize your values, and trust your opinions. TRUST is the key.?Believing in yourself is the evidence of trust in your abilities.

In every situation, sooner or later a decision must be made by someone about something large or small.?Some people struggle with some of the easiest decisions over miniscule things.?They were probably never given opportunities to succeed on their own as youngsters or horribly criticized when they failed at something.?As a result, they likely internalized the negative feedback and developed a dialog counterproductive "self-talk" that created cognitive dissonance, which made just about every decision they would make going forward painfully difficult.

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The Author

My Recent Interview on “Engineering Success”

Marc LeVine is a graduate of Syracuse (NY) University with a degree in Industrial Psychology, Marc is currently Talent Acquisitions and Learning and Development Lead at Thermo Systems. He is the recipient of the Excellence in Talent Acquisitions Award from HR Awards in 2021.

Marc's prior employment includes senior Human Resources and Staffing Industry management roles with Edgewood Properties in Piscataway, NJ, Brickforce Staffing in Edison, NJ, InfoPro Inc. in Woodbridge NJ and Plainsboro, NJ and Harvard Industries in Farmingdale, NJ, a former Fortune 500 company. He also served as Director of Human Resources for New Jersey Press, the parent company of the Asbury Park Press, Home News and Tribune and WKXW-NJ101.5. Earlier in his career, Marc served as Director of Career Services and Placement at Union Technical Institute in Eatontown and Neptune, NJ. In addition, Marc owned and operated Integrity Consulting Associates, a New Jersey based Human Resources and Social Media Marketing firm for 11 years. Marc also served as Council President in his hometown of Freehold Borough, NJ