I think the internet is driving me mad. Or I've got OCD. Or something. Over the last two days I've spent about a dozen hours trying to choose between the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy SIII, with the odd alternative thrown into the equation for added confusion. In fairness, that’s significantly less than the hundreds of hours I spent researching saddles before buying one of those. And as for the holiday, I think I spend more time researching and choosing them than I actually spend on the holiday!
If I added up the hours and hours and hours I spend researching on the internet and worked it out as a percentage of my life, (and especially my 'leisure time') I know it would confirm the worst; that I'm a serial procrastinator.
The sheer volume; the absolute plethora of information available to me is actually grinding the decision making process to a standstill.
Of course, the trouble with the internet is that for every published opinion there is an equally credible one somewhere else that states the complete opposite.
The same can be true when faced with problems at work. What's more, the dangers are the same and the results can be equally crippling to us as individuals and the organisations we work for.
We can spend so long investigating a problem, trying to make sure we have every piece of available information before we make a decision that we never make any decisions at all.
Sadly, making no decision is often worse than making an imperfect decision. After all, a lack of decisions can mean that new products and services are never developed or are developed too late, problems remain unresolved and organisations simply suffocate in a murky pond of inactivity.
So here's a thought. What about if the first decision we made was always about how much time we were going to allow ourselves to investigate the problem and develop some options? And the second was to make a decision at the end of that period?
I'll let you know how it goes, just as soon as I've decided which tarriff to choose for my new iPhone. :-)
Rod Webb
www.glasstap.com
One Response
LOL
I LOL at this as I am also a person who needs to research something to death and most often don’t come to any final conclusion.
The internet is definitely a hinderence. I used to make decisions by gut instinct and having tried this a few times again recently my gut has sadly lost the knack.
I may try your tack and always decide how long to research for then make a decision. However, my current decision making task (a new lawnmower) has the price factor involved so I need to decide how much to spend first???