This is the reason you are not able to act on your goals!
Trust me, its not you. There is lot more to it.
Ever felt like you are not able to take action cause you don’t have clarity about what to do?
How can I be sure?
What will be the consequences? or worse,
Will I make a fool out of myself?
If such questions have ever crossed your mind, then you are not alone.
Honestly, for me, it was scary to take action. What if I am WRONG, What if I make a WRONG CHOICE? and this self-doubt never ends.
I craved for a fixed answer. But it only caused me more anxiety!!
I've discovered and actively applied several techniques in my life.
Trust me, these changes are reshaping me for the better, making me a more evolved individual.
Why do we feel that way?
Uncertainty scares us and so we are just stuck in this vicious cycle of inaction.
1. Fear of Failure - The Obvious Culprit
Our brains tend to overestimate the consequences of failure.
If you are an over-thinker then this is even more dramatic for you. The fear of failure is so elaborate in your head that it is scary.
The problem of not taking action towards what you want is honestly a bigger threat than the threat of failure. Yes, Read that again.
2. Analysis Paralysis - Every over-thinker’s problem
The overthinking you do isn’t real. So are the consequences you worry about.
It is only paralyzing you from taking action. If you don’t do it, you will never know.
Honestly, I cannot tell you how many times I wish I didn’t over think about something,
The mind-space, time that I have wasted is never going to come back.
This quest for certainty can lead to indecision and procrastination.
3. The Illusion of Control - Our superpower that doesn’t exist
“Maybe when I have more information and clear up things then I will do it”. Feels familiar?
Again we have a deep-seated need to feel in control of our environment or at least the outcomes we desire.
So what do we do?
We postpone, procrastinate, and decide not to take action.
But we forget that there is no way you can be certain, cause there are so many variables.
The illusion of control is like your superpower that is only harming you.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not asking you to not do your due diligence, but remember nothing is set in stone. You can always course-correct as you go.
It like Jeff Bezos said, if it is two way door, then do it. You can come back and pick another door. Although he talks in the organizational context, you can implement it in your personal life.
In life, there are very few irreversible decisions - the one way door. There are things that you can’t take back. Like marrying someone wrong.
But how often are you in this type of situation? The things you are contemplating are most often the things that can be undone, the two way doors.
So Just go through it.
4. Cognitive Biases - The most psychological explanation
Our brain is our best friend and our worst enemy. Really! There are so many biases we create with the limited knowledge that we have.
I want to point out two biases that I found while working on myself
a. Loss Aversion
Our brains are wired to keep things the same way. And it is also scared of Failure.
To understand this, let’s imagine two scenarios-
Imagine you win an award at work; you feel proud, ecstatic, and motivated. Now imagine someone publicly accusing you of stealing their work that you just got an award for.
What will you go through? Image the shame, the guilt, the sense of losing everything.
Somehow the shame (loss) is more psychologically moving and twice as powerful than the pleasure of winning (gain)
Weird, but that’s how it is!
b. Information Bias
We tend to believe that the more information we gather, the better decision we are going to make. But that’s never the case.
This bias can lead to over-researching or overthinking a situation, which results in procrastination or in this case decision paralysis!
So what do you do? Don’t overthink it.
Instead of focusing on what you info you don’t know enough, reflect on what you know.
Assure yourself - given the time & resources, this is your best shot and, act on it!
Phew!
Conclusion
If you are still reading then I am guessing you are looking for how to get out of this inaction loop.
I really thought I could put this into the same edition but it was getting too long. So I will post that next week.
Before I tell you how, I really wanted you to understand the WHY. Cause without understanding the why, you are not going to tackle it.
Only the ones who consciously decide to get out of this vicious cycle are the ones who will put in the effort!
Me, writing this newsletter is an example of how I got out of it.
So stay tuned for my next post.
This week’s read
I stumbled upon this post by
and loved the approach.
What a delightful and unexpected surprise to see my article at the end of yours. I deeply appreciate it, Medha.