Why You Can’t Decide and How to Stop Being Indecisive

Is it hard for you to make a decision? Do you identify yourself as someone who is very indecisive?

Before I started doing this personal development work, I was a very indecisive person. Especially with big important decisions about my life. I was always afraid I would make the wrong choice.

Be with the wrong person. Pick the wrong career. Go down the wrong path for myself.

What if I regret my decision afterward? What if it doesn’t work out? Looking back, I now know why I was like that.

Here are 3 reasons why you’re indecisive:

1. You don’t trust yourself enough

You doubt your abilities to make the right decision for yourself. Perhaps you feel like you’ve made wrong choices in the past.

Or you’re used to listening to others’ opinions and doing what other people told you to do. You haven’t built enough trust with yourself when making decisions.

2. You’re afraid to take action

Guess what? Indecision is also a decision. It’s a decision to remain the same, at where you are. Especially with big important decisions, once you decided that means you actually have to take action to move forward. And that change can feel daunting and scary. Of course being indecisive would feel so much more comfortable.

3. You don’t understand yourself

You don’t really know what you want. So you also don’t know if your decision is the right choice or not. You may lack clarity about yourself, your needs, and what’s actually important to you.

Why it’s important to be decisive

I used to identify myself as an indecisive person. I believed that “it’s just who I am.”

But what we tell ourselves on a daily basis is so important. It’s only a belief. You can change it if you want to. 

Successful people make decisions on their own.

And they make them fast. They understand themselves. They know what they want, and they’re not afraid to take action.

Learning how to make a decision by yourself is an important skill.

It helps you strengthen your trust with yourself and improves your intuition, which is that gut feeling that you have.

We like to think that taking time to make a decision will be safer and that it shows that we are being responsible.

Yet, just because you spent three months (or several years) making a decision as opposed to spending one day, that doesn’t mean it will necessarily be a better decision.

Over the last few years, I’ve made a lot of decisions that felt right to me.

Some of them scared the heck out of me. Ending a relationship. Making a career change. Saying yes to opportunities.

If I were to go back, I would’ve made the exact same decisions. But this time I will make them even faster. I’m so glad I did the internal work to move past my indecisiveness.

Our lives are made out of decisions. All of the time.

Very often, you are one decision away from a transformational change in your life.

Rooting for you,

Shir

P.S. Why do you think you’re indecisive? What will it look like if you actually make the decision?

Shirley Huang is a Certified Life Coach, Podcast Host, and online educator. She provides weekly resources to help people become leaders in their life, while loving themselves and having fun a long the way. Check out her Life Coaching Programs here.