Escape These 2 Sneaky Time-Drainers and Reclaim Your Day
IT’S CRITICAL. I REPEAT. IT'S CRITICAL
Your indecision costs you more than you think it does.
I had an eye-opening moment while reading Eve Arnold’s article that showed where my time was going. I never thought indecision cost us too much time, but it does quite a lot. And that is not the end.
If you stay indecisive for too long, one of the choices materializes, and it’s generally the inferior one.
The vice of indecision
I know it stinks when you can’t make up your mind on something.
It always feels like you want this and that at the same time. Yet, most of the time, this isn’t true. Sometimes we choose to stay indecisive because one of our decisions will come true if we do not make a choice.
E.g., You want to go to the gym but also feel a little tired and would prefer the comfort of watching television and munching on some snacks.
Do you see the advantage of being indecisive in this scenario?
If you do not decide, time will pass, and you’ll say that it’s too late to visit the gym, and I will do it tomorrow. SMOOTH CRIMINAL.
I know we can be indecisive at times, but you need to understand whether you are using it to play the victim. Playing the victim is lousy because it undermines your confidence during crucial decisions.
You can decide beforehand whether you will go to the gym at the start of your day.
OR
You could consider your current energy levels on a given day and choose.
Be deliberate.
Bonus: Make commitments for important stuff beforehand so you won’t miss out (hitting the gym is one of them).
The choice that you made with indecision always goes against you
The above example shows that being indecisive will allow you to binge and indulge in your favourite show and snacks.
It will make you feel good in the short term. But we all know that going to the gym will always be better in the long run. We get all hot and bothered when we see someone flexing a jacked physique on the internet and silently wish for the same while finishing a pack of nachos at 2 a.m.
Protect yourself from the guilt of indulging in gluttony while working out one day at a time.
With decision-making, you will make good in addition to bad decisions, and learning from the bad ones will improve your accuracy. It is a virtue that you cannot experience with indecision.
Something that helped me get rid of indecision
Me deciding what to eat during an outing felt so demanding that I wouldn’t even wish it on my enemies.
My friends called me indecisive because that’s the way I was. But one day, I decided to make a choice, and the earth hardly moved.
I had to go through many decision-making hurdles to go from being wishy-washy to making up my mind.
A fun technique that I used:
For little decisions like what to eat, I would use a decision wheel to make them decide for me.
I would input the value and rotate the wheel. But that isn’t all.
When the wheel stopped on a choice, I would check my feelings:
If I felt satisfied with the choice, I would choose the one where the wheel stopped.
If I felt like rotating the wheel again, I would directly choose the second one.
Want to know why? You weren’t satisfied with the first one, that is why you decided to do it again.
I did this for small decisions like what to eat, drink, etc.
Use this technique for absolute decisions, like eating something because you can either eat this or that. This will help you build trust in yourself because you are the one who made the decision.
For a significant decision like pursuing a goal or letting it go, I would try to use the decision wheel, but it felt unwise to let my fate depend on the wheel.
Instead, I used it for small things which helped me build my trust in myself to make crucial decisions. It gave me the courage to make decisions and learn from my mistakes.
Final Thoughts
The cost of indecision is too great in the short run and the long run as well.
You need to make good use of your time which can be achieved through conscious choices. When you choose, the world presents you with the outcome and another set of alternatives.
But, when you don’t make a choice, you get handed down a choice and its outcomes with another set of alternatives.
You have to make choices as long as you have time on this planet, whether you like it or not.
So, why not make it on your terms?
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope you like it.
