OVERCOMING INDECISION.

Indecision is the inability to make a choice: it is having a lot of difficulty in deciding something. According to the mobile dictionary of English, it is the inability to decide on a course of action, especially if two or more possibilities exist.

• It is lack of decision; inability to decide or tendency to change the mind frequently;
• It is not being able to make an opinion and/or judgment after some thought and/or inquiry;
• It is the inability to decide quickly – a wavering between two or more choices.
• It is a state of irresolution -which is to be uncertain about how to act or proceed.
• It also is to vacillate, which means to waver in mind, will, or feeling
• It is to hesitate in choice of opinions or courses and to sway through lack of equilibrium.

A moment’s indecision when you’ve got the ball and you could lose the game. There is a great deal of indecision about/over how to tackle the problem. If you say that someone suffers from indecision, you mean that they find it very difficult to make decisions.

Synonyms: hesitation, doubt, uncertainty, wavering, vacillation, irresolution.

There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision, (William James, Varieties of Religious Experience). And for whom will put off what he can do now for later, that will still be put off for later and that will eventually not be done. The drinking of every cup, the time of rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning of every bit of work, are subjects of express volition.

Many of us have thought and researched a problem and still feel indecisive because we either don’t know what to do or have so many options that we have trouble choosing what should be the right one first.

We consult other humans with similar situations in life and sometimes find their decisive solutions to be acceptable in our situation also.

When in doubt or faced with indecision:

• Then try to find someone who has been through the same problem and has successfully resolved it. It can be your spouse, a close friend, or a licensed professional.
• Further research on the internet from humans who have had your problem and found solutions to it is also an excellent source to end your indecisiveness.
• Finally, if you are faced with indecision it is just a question of more time needed to research a solution to your indecision and you may even conclude that the best decision is to make no decision at all.

THE ONLY BAD DECISION IS INDECISION

What if I choose wrong?

A question that frequents my mind at crossroads, when I am presented with not so easy decision to take is, ‘What if I choose wrong?’ Some of those who are really close to me, sometimes get frustrated with the slow pace at which I take certain decisions. Recently, I decided to take them serious, so I did a self-check! My immediate finding is that I delay decisions when it involves people. To be precise, very close relationships and take quick (and easy) decisions when it concerns business, project executions (and far relationships).

On further research, I found out that indecision (and procrastination) are with us every moment of every day and will continue the journey of greatness with us as we coast through life. People are plagued by indecision, procrastination from the fear of making the wrong choice. We often wonder, “Am I not traveling down the wrong road? Will this decision not be a “wasting” of my time, money, effort and energy on the wrong thing?”

With rare exception, everyone is really hampered by the ghost of indecision. But the really bad news is, ‘the only bad decision is indecision, followed by inaction’. It doesn’t really matter whether you choose right, for there is no wrong decision and therefore no such thing as a waste of time, money or energy IF:

(1) You commit to being present and engaged in whatever you’re doing

(2) You approach everything with curiosity and openness, maintaining the steadiness to always be a student of life.

It helps to always walk around with the “win-win mind-set”. The win-win mind-set is “we win some, we learn some”. There’s no place for losing. Keeping an attitude of openness would be you telling yourself, “If this one goes well, good for me. If it doesn’t, I take my lessons and try it some way else”. Personally, I like to see the good in every situation and people around me often wonder how I can do that. Recently, I was involved in a business transaction that didn’t pan out as well we all expected it to. When everyone was expecting me not be “ok”, I just said, “it’s fine”, and I told them the loopholes I found so that in subsequent times, those loopholes are totally avoided. It could have been a serious breakdown for other people for because I always keep an open and win-win mind-set, it was more or less a work over.

It is better to flow, than to stagnate; to perform, than to watch from the stands, to be involved (and positively busy with life), than to sedate all your life. The dead sea does not flow out of itself, it just receives, retain and trap the lives that flow into it. Just like the Dead sea, is a stagnant water; it grows algae, smells offensively; and it breeds and distributes death. You are not a dead sea, or a stagnant water body so, move from death to life. Be a decider and so live in flow of life.

Even if you took the “wrong” job, used the wrong words, made a wrong impression, or sold for “too” cheap, are you going to bury yourself in there? It is not OK to sulk at bad decisions. You can do that for a little while but quickly snap out of it. Come on! Enough of the regret! Get up, dust up yourself and give life another “go at it”. Focus on what you can LEARN from the experience (instead of living with your head down, because you made a mistake). Because life could be unfair sometimes, a right choice could turn a bad one, when some people decide to make you fail. Out here, on this earth, only those who decide can seize their place in it. Are you where your decisions and actions are misaligned? Instead of sedating, rather ask yourself, “What have I learnt from doing the “wrong” thing that I can make use of to get closer to the “right” thing?” Don’t be like the snail, always trying to protect itself in its shell when little things touch it. Get out into the world and make those decisions. Make the good ones and also make the bad ones. Just keep deciding. Protecting yourself will only stagnate you. A snail cannot move when in its shell. It stays put. Same thing happens when you don’t make your decisions. You never move forward!

From a not so good decision, the obstacle life put on your part to profitable execution of your decisions (and or, an action you took that betrayed your decision), you would have at least found out, “what you want”, “what you don’t want”, “what you excel at”, “what you are not so good at”, “what you love and yearn for”, and what you hate and abhor”.

You only really lost (or wasted your) time, money and energy in a not so wise (and profiting) decision if you fail to see, and refuse to build upon what you’ve gained along the way. Profiting from your errors according to John Maxwell, “is falling forward!” It is the same as saying, “sometimes you fail, sometimes you learn.” It is such positive, upbeat attitudes that separate the ordinary from the champions.

So that in the end, the actual bad decision is indecision, because it leads to inaction, trapping its culprits in stagnancy and sedative living. And without action; there’s no story, no experience of life, no reference, no inference, and no information to link and connect us with (at least a sense of) living -joy, growth, purpose, progress. And life becomes just grey. So, get out of your head and into the world!

Staying in your head is living undecided with multitude of ideas, images, pictures, concepts, dreams that flood your mind daily. Staying in your head is living in your mind, it is living with you, your life -potential and purpose trapped inside. The Creator (God) wants you out here, where your world can experience you. Step out into your world, decide your ideas and dreams.

Let your attitude be as Joseph Campbell puts it, “where you stumble, there lies your treasure”. So, go ahead and decide, and you will one of these day (not so far out into the future) stumble into joy, growth, purpose and progress. “Decide and act”, is how to engage, release and forthwith maximize your potentials. You cannot be wrong, unless you act without intention, presence and openness to evolution.

The only wrong choice is deciding not to choose. And deciding not to choose, is losing automatically. But, when outcome will be negatively impactful (and evil), decide not to decide. Don’t misread this challenge to take quick, swift decision, to mean decide anyhow (without common sense, calculatedness and wisdom). The goal I set out to achieve is to make it succinct that you don’t need to clear all doubts, before taking decision. You won’t have such luxury in most cases in life. 

Go and start DECIDING!!!