To do or not to do, that is The Decision Bog

Or decision Quagmire

We are daily forced to make quick decisions, often on quite trivial matters and just as often get it wrong; but with a little thought and foresight, it is easy to avoid this situation.

Have you ever agonised over which starter to order at the restaurant? Which shade to paint the bedroom? Which flight to purchase? If so, you’re not alone. You’ve been caught in something called The Decision Bog. Not only does it lead to wasted time, it also makes people frustrated less satisfied with their choice.

It starts simply enough. You’re choosing a holiday destination or a restaurant to go for dinner. You’re relaxed, happy, and ready to choose. It is certainly a decision, but in the great scheme of things a relatively trivial one. You think you’ll quickly pick something and move on, a few minutes at most.

But then you begin comparing options. The Italian place has great food, but didn’t someone say that new Chinese place was worth checking out? And what about that Steak place you like? One restaurant is close by, but you had to wait a while last time to get a seat, the Steak place has great food but is expensive.  Soon you’re starting to get frustrated. Each option has pros and cons; each seems good in some ways and bad in others. Suddenly a choice that seemed relatively unimportant starts to feel more weighty and consequential. What if you get it wrong? Will the meal be terrible? Will you wish you went somewhere else? ; and at the end of the process, you still have a nagging doubt, did I pick the best one?

Without realising it, you’ve spent an hour scanning menus online, your stomach is starting to grumble and your partner is starting to complain. You’re struggling but the harder you work the more you get sucked in. You’re trapped and you can’t seem to find a way out.

Making Business Decisions

In business, it is even worse as the more time you spend dithering over a decision, is time you are not spending being productive and time means money! A colleague of mine was recently agonising over where to buy toilet rolls from, I kid you not. She must have spent several hours over this decision, spread over several days, considering such weighty options as two ply or three ply, four rolls or a bumper 24 roll pack and if she chose the latter, where would she store them. In the end the office ran out and she was forced to buy the from the local convenience store.

If something like this has happened to you, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean you are bad at decision making. The Decision Bog can happen to anyone. The reason it happens is less about you and more about the situation. We expect important decisions, like whether to switch jobs or buy a house, to be difficult. After all, they’re important. They require and deserve, careful deliberation and weighing of alternatives.

Don’t get caught in The Decision Bog

We don’t expect the same difficulty, however, for less important decisions. Which starter to choose? Which flight to pick? Which size pack of toilet rolls to buy? This shouldn’t be difficult but it’s so so easy to get sucked into the quicksand of The Decision Bog.

Trivial decisions frequently end up being more difficult than we expect, because of the many options to sift through, or conflicting trade offs and this unexpected difficulty leads us to think that the decision must be more important than we originally thought. If the decision is this difficult it MUST be worth my time and effort. So we devote more energy to the decision, collect more information, and sink deeper into the quicksand. We start spending more and more effort and the decision comes to seem more and more important. You’ve spent an hours on a trivial decision that should take minutes and still can’t figure out a way to escape.

All is not lost, to avoid being sucked into The Decision Bog, here are 4 simple tips to avoid the situation:

1. Prioritise –  It’s not difficult, whether it be booking a holiday or buying toilet rolls, decide in advance what your priorities are. Set a budget, is convenience a factor, this will make the decision making process easier and much quicker.
2. Time management – Decide how much time you want to spend in advance, for example I’m going to pick a flight in 15 minutes. Once the time is up, make a decision which appears to suit best without any further thought on the matter. If you don’t, you’ll end up going round in circles.
3. Take A Break – The Decision Bog leads us to be so narrowly focused on a choice that we think the world revolves around that decision. But few choices are that important. Stepping away for a few minutes and doing something else will provide some needed perspective and help you see whether a particular decision is really worth the effort. Also by doing something else you take your conscious mind off the problem and your subconscious mind takes over, so when you go back to the decision, you often immediately know which option to choose.
4. Satisfaction – People usually try to find the best possible option, but in many cases, any of the options would make you quite satisfied. You’d have a wonderful time in either Disney World or New York. So stop deliberating and move on with your life. Flip a coin. Either option is great and you can always try the alternative at a later date.

Next time you find yourself hopelessly stuck in an unimportant decision, stop struggling for a moment and take a step back. What you thought was a big deal almost certainly isn’t.

David Jones is the Senior Partner and Founder of Morgan Jones & Company. Born in Liverpool and a graduate of Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School, David spent twenty years working for the Customs & Excise in London then Shrewsbury before starting his own business. David’s depth of knowledge of the UK tax system and his ability to communicate this learning has seen Morgan Jones & Company grow into on Shropshire’s most respected Accountancy Practice. Email David