A Clouded Vision

To do or not to do? In one of Shakespeare's most popular bloodbaths, the lead character Hamlet's tragic flaw was that he could not make a decision and act upon it. Okay, the decision in question revolved around whether he should murder his mother and uncle in retaliation for his father's untimely death -- a real pickle, no doubt. But Hamlet's inability to resolve his quandary in an expedient manner culminated in the deaths of everyone around him and placed him on the wrong end of a poisoned sword. Most of us can relate to Hamlet's tendency to procrastinate when we're faced with a decision. We weigh the pros and cons, we analyze the costs versus the benefits, we visualize all possible outcomes in our minds... and sometimes we still make lousy decisions. For many of us, our inability (or rather, unwillingness) to make a decision quickly and follow through prevents us from getting exactly where we want to go in our lives. Often, indecision and subsequent procrastination are the results of feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of decisions we must make on a daily basis (e.g., Do I need a new career? Should I stay in this relationship? Do I want smooth or bits in my juice?) The most common (and most dangerous) response to that feeling pressure over having to make decisions is to withdraw from making any decision at all. A variation of this response is to take some sort of action, but on a task unrelated to the specific challenge at hand. Just as a computer has a finite amount of RAM to devote to the tasks we give it, our brains can only deal with so much information before we hit overload. The 'applications' we have open in our brains (i.e., pending decisions) the more we can expect our performance at work and our personal relationships to suffer the consequences. Fortunately, there are solutions to resolve our inability to decide and follow through with intelligent actions.FONT> In the moment of indecision, if we are willing to take the time to slow down and shut ourselves up for a few moments, our intuition WILL tell us what to do. We must believe that the solution lies within us and can only be heard if we allow ourselves to silence our internal chatter and listen to what our instincts are telling us. Equally important, we must then act promptly on our decision. The longer we wait to act, the greater the chance that our inner voice will be drowned out by a chorus of "should do's" and second guesses that will undermine our ability to trust ourselves and make the choice we really wish to make. Let's keep this in mind this month (August is America's National Speedy Decision Month after all) and just get our feet wet when it comes to making our decisions. By remaining true to our gut feelings - true to our SELVES, we can avoid the agony of indecision, we take charge of our lives, we allow ourselves the opportunity to be more effective in our personal and professional lives, and our decisions will lead to outcomes even better than we expected.