Somebody once said that most of the decisions that you make in life are wrong. This seems like it could be worth remembering when we are wrestling with a decision and feel like the rest of our future depends on it or procrastinating over choosing the latest mobile telephone, sorry, Smart mobile communications handset! Our brain likes us to have choice (we feel good and in control) however, too much choice can overwhelm and immobilise us. Pun intended, as you’ve guessed it, I currently cannot make my mind up on which particular new gadget from all the new brands now on the market to sign up for. This is a purely emotional reaction as rationally I know that I have always been happy with my previous choices and contract… however, generally we make purchasing decisions based on our emotions. Hence, the term ‘retail therapy’.
Decision-making takes up a lot of resources in our brain. If we cannot make a critical decision (meaning lots of other activities are designed to follow it) the thinking part of our brain gets blocked and our cognitive capacity reduces dramatically. This lack of a decision is literally on our mind. The decision-needing-to-be-made takes up valuable space and causes all the relating tasks to back up behind it like a traffic-jam, hence the term, bottleneck decision.
You may be able to instantly recall experiences of finally making a bottleneck decision and remember the relief that you felt once that decision was made, not to mention the surge of energy and reward of dopamine (the brain’s pleasure neurotransmitter) which helped you to feel good and more motivated.
Therefore, knowing that any bottleneck decisions could be sapping your energy and preventing you from moving forward, I encourage you to be brave and decide to decide!
Some suggestions to make it easier and speed up your thinking: ask for help, write a pros and cons list, limit your choices to two, create a deadline and tune into and trust your intuition.
Enjoy the energy resulting from removing the bottleneck in your brain!
I look forward to hearing what you learn about yourself from giving this tip a go.