My wife and I went shopping for paint last week. In a way, I was kind of dreading this. You probably know what it’s like. You face a wall containing hundreds of two-inch swatches, each containing a shade of white, blue, green, or red, slightly different from the other ones around it.
If you’re not careful, you can spend 30 minutes or more sorting through endless variations and still be worried that what you finally chose will not look right once it’s on the wall. The same thing is true for so many other decisions. These days, all of this has been fostered by two things. First, the worldwide web. Second, the consumer products companies that compete for our business. Whether you’re purchasing toothpaste or paint or even cars, there are endless options from which to choose, which do more to exhaust us than anything else.
The same thing is true of researching other things online. Search on any topic these days and you’re likely to come up with hundreds of thousands of possible links within 0.6 seconds. The big lie in all of this is that more options are better. And that is simply not the case. The more you work toward clarifying what you’re looking for and the parameters around it, the more you will be able to work towards fewer options. As a result, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions.
Don’t be afraid of narrowing your options for the mass vast majority of decisions. Having all the options is just not that important. Ask lots of effective leaders, like I have, and they will tell you that when you have 70 to 80 percent of the input, they know it’s time to make a decision. If it is not exactly on target, you can always adjust.
Those who are able to overcome their feelings of being overwhelmed are always working toward limiting their options. How do they do this? Three things. Number one, they get real clarity before entering the marketplace. Number two, they ask knowledgeable people to assist them. And three, they keep the decision in perspective. They don’t allow themselves to become consumed by the consequences of insignificant decisions. And neither should you.