Analysis paralysis is when you get stopped in your tracks over a problem. It’s sometimes referred to as being in deer in headlights mode because those creatures tend to stop completely when they’re in front of an oncoming vehicle at night.
Overthinking things can have that effect in humans – we get too many different answers and just freeze our decision making. A bit like a government committee or civil servants are regularly said to think that making no decision is better than the wrong decision.
Sometimes that’s right. But most of the time it’s better to actually do something because you wouldn’t be looking at the problem if it wasn’t a problem.
So, how does overthinking lead to analysis paralysis and what can you do to snap out of it?
Overthinking can give too many solutions
Other than straightforward yes/no questions, most problems have a multitude of answers.
When we overthink the problem, we end up with too many possible ways to solve it, lots of which are plausible and quite a few of which would almost certainly work OK.
But instead of just picking a solution that will probably work, we spend what seems like forever trying to decide which one to implement. And then don’t implement anything – leaving things wherever they are at the moment, even if that’s not ideal.
If that sounds familiar, there’s a good chance you’re overthinking things.
If the overthinking is occasional, it’s possibly OK (but you probably need to have the fall-back of someone who’ll operate as a tie-breaker) but if it’s the rule, not the exception, then you need to address the problem.
Remember you won’t find the perfect solution
There’s no such thing as a perfect solution. Otherwise we wouldn’t keep getting the next latest and greatest versions of all the gadgets and software we use, the other products we buy, and so on.
OK, you might argue that some new versions aren’t as good as the older ones and that could well be the case in at least some instances – feature creep can go too far at times and simpler is often better – but it is the case for most things. I prefer it that my car doesn’t have a hand crank to start or a manual choke to adjust. And I’m definitely more comfortable with the idea of air bags and anti-skid brakes. But I also know it’s not perfect and the next vehicle I get will be an improvement.
Perfect solutions only exist in fairy tales and movies.
In real life, the best we normally get is a “good enough” solution and, almost all the time, good enough is good enough.
There might be the occasional exception to that rule but I’ve yet to come across one. Even rocket scientists have to make trade offs – in a perfect world, Voyager 1 would always transmit data but that’s not going to happen.
So you will probably need to compromise and settle for a solution that isn’t totally perfect.
Set yourself a deadline
Deadlines are good.
They force you to actually work to a fixed time.
If the problem looks like it’s going to go on forever then it’s definitely worth setting a realistic deadline to get it solved by.
Of course, not every problem can be solved (time travel?) – if the thing you’re attempting to solve could fall into that category, split it down into smaller chunks and set a deadline for each of those.
Setting deadlines also puts some pressure on you and anyone else you’re working with to come up with a solution.
Get rid of the bad options and score the rest
If you’re still struggling to come up with something, list out all the solutions you’ve thought about so far.
Cross out the bad options – the ones you know don’t really make any sense.
Give the remaining options a score – the first score that comes into your head is the right one and it’s up to you how you score (if there’s more than one person involved, obviously make sure you’re all using the same system
Then go with the highest scoring option.
If there’s a tie, use a tie-breaker – something as random as flipping a coin or something more “professional” – it’s up to you.
Get help with your mindset
Sometimes it’s our mind that gets in the way.
It’s trying to be helpful but ends up getting in the way.
Sometimes, sleeping on the ideas overnight can be enough, especially if you tell yourself (ideally out loud) that you’re going to have a light-bulb moment when you wake up tomorrow. That sounds weird but works more often than mere co-incidence.
Other than straightforward yes/no questions, most problems have a multitude of answers.
