Three reasons we postpone a decision for months
Most postponed decisions come not from laziness but from an unnamed gap in knowledge or from an expectation that belongs to someone else.
Almost everyone who comes to the Decision Room starts with the same sentence: "I actually know what I should do, but I can't do it." Three sessions later, what usually emerges is that there is something they do not know. Here are the three reasons I meet most often.
The decision is really two decisions
"Should I move to Berlin?" is often two questions: "Do I want this job?" and "Can I live far from my family?" When two questions are tangled together, neither can be answered. In the first session we try to write the decision in one sentence. If the word "and" sneaks in, there are probably two decisions.
The missing information has no name
Uncertainty grows when we do not list what we do not know. Write on a sheet of paper: "What do I need to know to make this decision?" Two kinds of items usually appear: those that can be found out (salary, rent, schools) and those that cannot (will I be happy there?). Find out the first group within a week. The second group exists in every decision; waiting changes nothing about it.
The decision belongs to someone else
Sometimes what we postpone is not the decision but telling someone about it. The expectation of a parent, a partner or a business partner sits on an invisible chair at the table. The question "Who would I find it hardest to tell?" shows where the knot really is.
Set a date
Before the decision itself, decide when you will decide. Put a day in your calendar. Learn everything that can be learned before then; when the day comes, choose with what you have. Waiting for perfect information usually means not deciding at all.
