“More is lost by indecision than by wrong decision.
Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Choosing not to decide is often the most expensive decision a leader can make. The causes of indecision are in the phrases we use when we don’t want to decide:
There is a cost to letting this thinking run the show. The presumed safety of indecision is often a false strategy. To paraphrase author Hunter S. Thompson, if you procrastinate in choosing, you’ll inevitably have your choice made for you by circumstance.
Put another way, indecision is decision…often against your best interests.
When you hit the pause button on a decision, there are hidden costs that become cumulative the longer you wait:
- Wasted money and energy on gathering more information in the futile hope of finding the ‘perfect choice’…which very rarely exists.
- The cost of missed opportunities and limited strategic options.
- Mental fatigue, stress, and degraded analysis skills from persistent indecision.
- Organizational drift, lost trust, and low morale from obstructed predictability and progress.
But undeniably the biggest cost of indecision is the loss of Time. As our old pal Ben Franklin said, “You may delay, but time will not.” Any time lost by not deciding is time you can’t get back. Consider the Net Present Value approach: What can you gain by deciding now, vs waiting days, weeks, or months until you begin to realize any benefits?
Conversely, deciding moves you forward immediately, allowing you to:
- Learn fast, as every decision provides instant data. You learn what doesn’t work, and can fix it.
- Create new options.
- Build momentum by boosting your confidence and breaking the weight of feeling stuck.
Some suggestions to help you avoid indecision:
- Let go of perfectionism and choose the option that meets at least 70% of your criteria. The time and energy you might take to find the missing 30% is much better spent adjusting as circumstances change.
- Immediately narrow your choices to the top 2 or 3, then pick the winner.
- Build up your decisiveness muscle by practicing with low-stakes decisions. Make them as quickly as possible and you’ll become more confident.
Here’s your first opportunity: choose deciding over indecision, momentum over perfection.
Choose quickly…more decisions are headed your way!
Success Authorities helps leaders break the cycle of decision fatigue and burnout with the Questions-to-Momentum™️ Flywheel – a structured path from questions to clarity, decisions, action, and sustained momentum.
