We all make decisions and we all do it daily. What clothes should I wear today? Should I have coffee or tea? Toast or cereal? For some, making decisions is easy, but for others making a decision can be agonizing.
Indecisiveness results from the fear of making the wrong or suboptimal choice. If you avoid making decisions because you’re worried that you’ll make the wrong one, consider making a temporary decision that is good enough for now.
Make temporary decisions
Making temporary decisions is a technique that has worked well for us. These decisions are perhaps not the best but they are good enough for now. After some time has passed you can decide to make your temporary decision permanent or you can change your mind and choose something else.
Take Serene Journey , for example. It would take us forever to come up with the perfect appearance, we would constantly be tweaking and changing it. It would be launched months (perhaps even years) from now if we were waiting for it to be just right. Knowing this, we’ve made some temporary decisions on how the site will look for now. The RSS and email subscription icons (pictured left) are better than they were before but they’re still not perfect. The key thing is that they’re good enough for now.
We know that this will not be feasible for every decision but it can help you get over inaction and start moving forward. Consider temporary decisions for things such as:
- Organizing items in your kitchen
- The way you layout a bedroom
- Website design
- A filing system
- A household budget
- Your education
Don’t get caught up in trying to make the perfect decision. Life changes and circumstances change so go with the flow and remember it’s about progress not perfection.
Photo courtesy of: i yudai
See also:
Enrich Your Life By Facing Your Fears Head On.
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Keeping It Short And Sweet is a series of posts done every Thursday at Serene Journey. We will address topics that we are interested in learning a bit more about, topics that are generally useful and those that have helped us enjoy life just that little bit more. If you have any suggestions for this series feel free to drop us an email or leave them in the comments.
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Comments
Hi Sherri,
I learned a while ago that there is no such thing as being perfect. We are all works in progress so everything basically is a journey and sometimes you just have to go with what works for now.
Nothing is better than going with the flow!
Nadia-Happy Lotus’s last blog post..Luck, The Beatles and 10,000 Hours
Sherri,
I like your idea of make temporary decisions. Also, I remind myself that making no decision is also a decision, so I really can’t avoid making a decision.
Roger – A Content Life’s last blog post..From Aggravated to Relaxed in 158 Seconds
@ Nadia – By going with the flow, you become a lot less tense and more easy going. This is something I haven’t got a good grip on but I’m definitely making progress!
@ Roger – I’m glad you like the temporary idea. I know it helps us a lot to get moving forward, past the fear of doing the wrong/suboptimal thing. After a while if it’s still working then we leave it if not re-evaluate and keep going.
I’d maintain that there are certain things in life that need alittle perfection (or at least a very high standard of acceptance). The two examples that come to mind… People don’t want “good enough for now” with Doctors or Lawyers. Those are areas of my life where I want a high standard of practice.
Mmmm… Cereal (Toast sucks)
Sherri,
Great idea about temporary decisions to get moving. I completely identify with wanting to get the blog theme and icons and everything just right, but starting first and tweaking as we go along. I think I’ve changed themes more than ten times in half a year of blogging! Your blog looks great to me, by the way. It’s only to ourselves that our blogs look imperfect, I think. Everyone else just wants the content. I’m trying to learn this lesson but I just love tweaking nonetheless.
Daphne’s last blog post..How To Find Happiness in 5 Minutes
@ FupDuckTV – Yeah exactly what I meant by it’s not feasible for every decision like choosing a doctor, lawyer, buying a house, spouse etc.
@ Daphne – We find ourselves falling into the same trap. We try dividing our time between writing posts and responding to comments, reading other blogs and tweaking our site. We have to remind ourselves that producing content is most important when it comes to blogging and that’s what we should be focusing our time on. Thanks so much for your feedback on the appearance of our site. We only see the to do list and what still needs to be done so it’s good to get a different perspective.
Hi Sherri
Thanks for the interesting idea!
Seems to me that life changes constantly, so no decision is ever going to be perfect. It may be perfect in one moment of time, but that moment passes very quickly and something new might be appropriate. In this sense, it might be healthy to view all decisions as temporary. Stick with them until a new decision is needed.
I like that way of approaching decisions and am now thinking about areas of my life where I’m stuck and what temporary decision might help things along.
Ian
Hi
What you say is a good way to get over that hump of procrastination. Have at least something to work with and then continue.
We are on the third version of our website design!
Juliet
LifeMadeGreat | Juliet’s last blog post..What Do You Think Of This Quote?
@ Ian – Welcome! I think you’re right that making a decision today and expecting it to still be perfect further down the line (months/years from now) is unrealistic. Trying to remain unattached to a choice or decision can really help with going with the flow. Good to see you over here and thanks for the comment.
@ Juliet – Welcome! These temporary decisions help us to get going and it’s somehow easier to start when you have the expectation that what you’re choosing to do isn’t permanent. It’s good enough for now and we move on.
With respect to site design, I think Daphne’s comment “It’s only to ourselves that our blogs look imperfect, I think. Everyone else just wants the content.” is important to keep in mind. For us if a site is simple and is easy to navigate it’s perfect…and good content of course. Thanks for your comment Juliet!