How to Overcome Analysis Paralysis

Have you ever been in a situation where you knew you had to make a change and do it soon? This change is necessary and overdue because you’re fed up with the way things are and way past the point of being sick and tired. You've researched and analyzed your predicament and through the Internet and the ability to “Google” your subject, have found literally millions of solutions to your query.

However, with so many solutions available, it’s easy to be stricken by a certain condition called, analysis paralysis. This refers to over analyzing (or over thinking) a situation so that a decision, or action, is never taken. In this post I’ll discuss the causes of analysis paralysis as well as provide a simple solution.

As you know, Google places the most popular responses to our queries at the top of each page making it fairly easy to pick a course of action. Once we have chosen our course of action we typically delay a while and engage our brain to map out a timeline and the exact path we can follow. This is normally the spot in our action plan where a full-blown case of analysis paralysis sets in.

Our paralysis typically begins when we delay taking action in order to research a particular detail in more depth. As we drill deeper into that detail we normally come across others to which we don't have answers. This causes more delay, which, because of our fear of the unknown, eventually leads to our complete paralysis. If this is you, let me give you a hint. “You don’t have to have solutions to all potential problems prior to embarking on your course of action”.

We get paralyzed because our ego, thinking it’s protecting us, doesn’t want to give up control of our actions for even one moment. Our ego isn’t evil, but merely confused and limited. It relies upon human emotion and intellect in order to make decisions.

We can counteract the ego by staying focused on our solution and not being preoccupied by the potential steps we may take. Connecting with our spiritual nature and staying in the moment accomplishes this important step.

It's the job of our spiritual nature to guide and comfort us as we move towards our goals and life's purpose. Also trust me when I say we don’t always want to know what we’ll have to go through. This is because sometimes the steps will be painful but the outcome will more than outweigh the setbacks.
It's kind of like going to the dentist in order to get rid of a toothache. We hate sitting in the chair, but are thankful for the outcome.

Finally, the simple cure for analysis paralysis is to: immediately begin the course of action you have chosen and trust in your spiritual nature to console and guide you to your final destination. I hope you enjoyed this post and until next time: “Here's hoping that you live today and every day passionately and with purpose.” Thank you and God bless!