Why do I struggle to make decisions – 6 Simple Reasons

Have you ever caught yourself in the labyrinth of indecision and asked yourself, ‘Oh God, why do I struggle to make decisions?

Perhaps you’ve spent hours, days, or even weeks mulling over your choices, weighing their cons and pros but arrived nowhere.

Instead, you feel paralyzed by the weight of the choices and can’t seem to think rationally.

It’s like a nightmare that haunts you from time to time in your life.

But in this article, you will dig down the reasons for your indecisiveness disorder to stop overthinking your choices and get things done.

Aboulomania – Indecisiveness Disorder

First, let’s talk about what is Aboulomania.

Aboulomania or Indecisiveness disorder is actually not recognized as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), but rather a symptom that can be observed in individuals who would exhibit decisional procrastination.

Certain individuals suffering from mental health conditions like anxiety or obsessive compulsion disorder (OCD) are more likely to be exhibiting symptoms of indecisiveness disorder.

However, these symptoms stem from certain habits that you built over the years.

By becoming mindful and terminating these habits, you will be able to free yourself from the complaint, ‘Why can’t I make decisions for myself?’

Why Do I Struggle To Make Decisions – Decision Paralysis Anxiety

Decision paralysis anxiety refers to a state of being unable to make a decision or struggling to make decisions. Doesn’t matter what you do, you can’t seem to arrive at a conclusion.

There can be multiple contributing factors but we will focus on the ones that will be more relevant to you.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at why you struggle to make decisions. Shall we?

1. Overthinking Paralysis

Your best friend that is hindering you from taking action is overthinking paralysis.

Overthinking paralysis is slightly different from overthinking, it is rather a manifestation of overthinking, a stage where you ultimately reach.

It is paralysis in the sense that you overthink so much that you become paralyzed to make a decision.

Doing analysis and weighing your options before taking any step is quite helpful and applaudable. But if you ponder over these too much, then it becomes a problem.

You can very easily get caught in the cycle of excessive analysis and rumination.

We, humans, are blessed with metacognition.

It’s an awareness that helps you think about your thoughts. That’s what helps us in developing strategies.

But this tool can turn out to be destructive for you if you begin to spam it because of a small reason, emotions.

You think about taking an action, then think of a consequence then think about the thought of the consequence, and the cycle continues. But you tend to forget your emotions can twist your thinking quite heavily.

The thoughts that are preventing you from taking an action, could be inspired by your emotions. When you become stressed over a thought, that newly added stress will inspire more negative thoughts.

You will keep piling up these illusions and never take any decision. That’s why it’s so important to tame your emotions when making any decision.

Overthinking paralysis is just one of the grave consequences of overthinking. You can only imagine how mindful should you be to not fall victim to it.

2. Data Analysis Paralysis

We are living in an age of information where information about literally anything is readily available to everyone.

We can know about what lies in the depths of oceans or the heights of the mountains.

However so much information can overwhelm you quite quickly and if not kept in check, can prevent you from taking any action.

According to research, nature made our minds not scan but rather focus. All the great feats mankind has ever achieved are due to the ability of laser focus.

From Leonardo De Vinci to Wright Brothers, their success lies in their ability to focus.

But what happens in our lives goes like this.

We begin to research a particular topic, but since so many variants are available to us that we become confused about what to focus on.

Let’s say you want an idea of starting a business. As you begin to search for them, the internet will throw so many ideas at you, that you are unable to focus on anything particular.

You start moving back and forth between the ideas and get caught in the loop of data analysis.

3. Paralyzed by Fear and Indecision

Fear can be a powerful emotion that can inhibit decision-making.

As discussed earlier in metacognition, fear can distract and make you see things that are only in your head.

You begin to stress over things that are very far from reality. Your mind will be more focused on imagining the unfavorable consequences rather than evaluating the choice itself.

And this fear is not always a physical one but could be a psychological one as well. This could be a fear of failure preventing you from taking action.

What happens here is you are stressed what if it goes like this? What if I couldn’t succeed? What if this or that?

What do you notice here?

Stressing over the failure and consequences rather than the choice itself which is to be made.

As a result, you struggle to make decisions and become paralyzed by fear and indecision.

That’s why you would have seen many motivational speakers urging you to step out of your comfort zone as this kind of hindrance in the decision for action is due to fear.

4. Too Many Choices Paralysis

Having the luxury of choices and options can be great. You can evaluate them and select the option which aligns with your values and such.

But having too many choices can be counterproductive.

Having an abundance of options can make your mind overwhelmed and throw your critical analysis off balance.

As we mentioned earlier, our minds are optimized for focusing not scanning.

It can be very tedious to evaluate a large number of options in-depth and can leave you feeling overwhelmed.

You get stuck in a manner; not being able to evaluate all the choices and not knowing enough of a particular choice to make a decision.

And then the thing happens you dread the most, too many choices paralysis.

5. Decision Fatigue

Decision fatigue can be a contributing factor to your struggle in making decisions.

Making decisions require energy and focus, you have to critically analyze choices, weigh their pros and cons, shortlist your options and last but not least take into consideration prospects.

All these steps can take a toll on your mental energy and drain you, making you mentally exhausted.

This fatigue can render you helpless against evaluating further choices.

The best thing you can do in these kinds of situations is to give yourself a break to become charged again.

6. You listen to others too much

Listening to other people’s suggestions can be very beneficial as it unlocks the doors for you to see things from a broader perspective.

But it’s all about trade-offs.

You have to draw a line where to stop taking into account others’ opinions and take the lead.

This world is brimming with all types of colorful people from different backgrounds. They have massively diversified experiences and personalities.

The opinions they give you are based on their psyche, perspective, and expertise.

And if you begin to take all of them at their face value, it can be very damaging.

As a reality check, just look at the most successful people in history, but not everyone is a fan of them.

For example. Julius Caesar is a source of inspiration for many but on the other hand, is criticized by many equally.

Some see him as an ambitious leader while others see him as a power-hungry person who declared himself the dictator for life.

Does having a different opinion change the fact altogether? Of course not!

And when you begin to listen to everyone’s suggestions before taking a step without keeping their backgrounds and experiences in the back of your mind, you are bound to get confused and reluctant to do anything.

How to Stop Overthinking When Making Decisions

Now here comes the fun part that how can you stop overthinking should you find yourself in such a situation. Luckily for you, StudyCorgi has written a great detailed guide on it that can help you accomplish this seemingly mountainous task effortlessly.

Conclusion

That brings us to the end of your complaint ‘Why do I struggle to make decisions?’

Let’s have a quick recap. Shall we?

If you are struggling to make decisions, you should first know there is nothing wrong with you, there are millions of others dealing with the same thing.

First of all indecisiveness disorder, Aboulomania is actually not a disorder but rather a symptom of not being to make a decision.

Your struggle to make a decision can be attributed to certain habits.

Overthinking paralysis can be a major factor in preventing you from taking any action. Where you begin to make wrong use of your tool, metacognition, and get caught in the loop of analyzing the consequences.

Then we could see how too data analysis can prove to be counter-productive also with the help of psychological aspects.

Thanks to the information age we are living in, data analysis can prove to be tremendously tedious to us due to the abundance of information.

The better approach is to analyze fewer options to their core rather than many options halfway. It can help you make smarter choices, preserve your energy, and get rid of ‘indecisiveness disorder’.

Then we could how your own fears can boost your struggle to make decisions. Where you begin to pay attention to your fears rather than the option itself, begin to panic, and forget about making decisions.

Then your next friend, decision fatigue can make you exhausted so much mentally and to the point you have no energy left for further evaluation. If that’s the case then just take a break and come back when you are replenished.

And last but not least, you listen to others way too much that you begin to take their words as a sermon.

You forget that they are also human-like and different greatly in their backgrounds. Their opinions are reflecting their past experiences and expertise and can be greatly wrong

So listen to all of them, filter them based on facts and figures, throw the garbage in the trash can, and play with the valuable ones.

So that brings us to the end of the article, if you have any suggestions or feedback related to the content, then you are most welcome to share it with us.

Have you ever felt stuck when making a decision? Tell us in the comments below!