BUSINESS & LIFE: Indecision

I hope as you went about your day in the last two weeks, you have given a little thought to your energy management.  I have been practicing what I preached and I can tell you, I feel more rested, alert, patient, alive and I am certainly more productive.  Yet, I have been thinking from Friday about the topic for this week’s article and while a few ideas surfaced, none held me, so here I am still without a topic.

How can one write an article on no topic?  This makes no sense.  But as I write this, this brings to mind something.  Are there times in our lives when we do not know what to do?  Are there times in our lives when we do not understand what is happening to us?  Are there times in our lives when we are confused about the meaning of life?  It can get to even more mundane things; like what to wear, what to eat, who to visit and where to go.  We are undecided.  What does indecision tell us? What does it mean?  This is the topic for today.

Indecision is a state of flux.  The Oxford English dictionary describes it as, “Lack of decision; hesitation.”   As Steven Berghas stated, indecision is never about making the correct choices, but rather, about being blocked from action.  Whenever we are in a state of indecision, we need to stop and get to the root of it.  What makes me indecisive?  Why I am not making a decision?  What makes me hesitate?  The reasons are many and include fear, incomplete information, inadequacy of knowledge & skills, fatigue, anxiety, apathy, fear of offending others, depression, perfectionism.  Whatever the cause in order to get beyond our indecision, we need to confront the cause.  It is not always easy to get to the cause, for we are sometimes afraid to confront the truth about ourselves.  However, it is vitally important that we do so to be able to move on and to get out of our indecisive state.  Sometimes, Professor Ian Davidson, my PhD supervisor, once said to me, “You just have to act.  Just begin writing without thinking whether it makes sense or not.  Write and afterwards you will edit.  You can achieve nothing without action.”  So true!

So if you are in a state of indecision, how do you get out of it?  How do you begin to act and thereby achieve result?    Steven Berghas in “Seven Ways to Combat Indecision:”

1.    Forget about always appearing smart – Sometimes we are so concerned about always being correct and perfect that we are mobilized by that fear and anxiety.  We have to know when we have done our best and let it go.  We have to stop competing with ourselves and with others and focus on doing our best.  In 1991, when I was heading off to study, my friend, Helen Mellow Pascal, gave me a mug with an inscription, “I do my best and leave the rest to God.”  I have taken this to heart and continue to live it.
2.    Trust your guts – We have to listen to our inner voice and trust that it’s directing us to the best outcome.  How many times do we say or hear other say, “If only I had listened to my mind,” or “Every time I go against my mind, I leave to regret it.”  That is our inner voice speaking.   Yes, we have to analyse the facts and figures, weigh the options, however these do not preclude us from listening to that inner voice.  Proverbs tell us that our inner voice is better than seven watchmen.
3.    Beware the Paradox of Choices – There are so many choices we do not know which one to choose.  We are overwhelmed by the options before us.  We then need to eliminate and narrow down our choices.
4.    Prioritise your Demands and Fears – Our indecision is sometimes caused not because we do not know what to do, but we are afraid to act.  We are often afraid to act because we don’t want to offend.  When we are placed in that situation, we need to ask which is more important…our fear or our need.
5.    Channel Winston Churchill – Our indecision is sometimes caused, as Marianne Williamson so aptly stated, “…Not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our Light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”  We are afraid people will say we are “show offs” and demand, “Who does she/he think she/he is?”  I tell you we must never be afraid to let our Light shine.  In the words of Winston Churchill, “The only guide to man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude or sincerity of his actions.  It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.”  In other words, we must always let our conscience be our guide.  This is why it is so important that we keep this guide, this inner voice unsullied, and we listen to its wise counsel.
6.    Accept the Limits of Analysis – This is what is called “analysis paralysis”. So while, it is important to seek advice and to research, we have to know when enough is enough.  We have to understand that we must make a choice for by not making a choice we have indeed made a choice!
7.    Flip a Coin – It is better to make the wrong decision than no decision at all.  The truth is, we can learn from wrong decisions and we often get the opportunity to right them, growing in the process.  This urges us to make a decision, to act.

Indecision, though debilitating if allowed to fester and take root, can be managed and we can overcome.  So as we go about our day and week, I pray the Lord grants us His Wisdom, Understanding and Discernment to make our decisions with decisiveness and good judgement.

Until we meet again, May the Lord continue to Keep Us in the Palm of His Hands.  Blessings Aplenty………