HACKER Q&A
📣 imnotreallynew

Analysis paralysis – how can I make a decision?


I’ve been “stuck” trying to make a decision for over a month. This decision is relatively important and will affect my life in the near term (12 months) but I don’t believe any option will result in drastically different long term effects.

I seem to be stuck in analysis paralysis; I spend many hours online casually gathering data and reading relevant articles. I’ve made lists, drawn up pros and cons, and even in a last ditch effort wrote a quick Ruby script to output an option thinking I could let that thing decide for me.

Alas, I’m still stuck. When you’re faced with an important decision where there doesn’t seem to be a clear “best” option, are there any concrete, systematic techniques you use to arrive at an answer?

  👤 pfortuny Accepted Answer ✓
There is never ever a “best” decision. The most important part in any is that it is your decision.

In this case you are in the best of places but are not taking advantage of that. Any decision will be yours for life.

This is the way to build YOUR life. Acting.

I am not trying to criticize you: just trying to help.

Your life is the sum of YOUR decisions. Right now you are not living, you are led by compulsion (trying to be sure, certain, safe, whatever). What you call “analysis” is exactly paralysis. Stop. Act. Most of life is uncertain (if not all).

Good luck.