Being an entrepreneur means you are in a constant stage of decision making: where to advertise, to start a blog or not, hire someone to build a funnel, to choose ActiveCampaign/Convertkit, are webinars right for my business…. Analysis paralysis is the silent killer of your dreams and sales.
Analysis paralysis is a state of over-thinking a decision to the point of never making a decision. It happens when you…
- over-complicate a decision, make it bigger than it actually is
- you want to make the “right” decision or “perfect” choice
- fear of making a wrong decision
- are overwhelmed with options
5 Tips Stop Analysis Paralysis
If anything I mentioned earlier rings a bell, you are in right place. From my experience working with clients for years, analysis paralysis hits each and every business owner and most likely many times during their career.
Analysis paralysis is really common with new business owners.
Reason behind this is that when you finally do something you always wanted to do, you want it to be perfect. Nothing wrong with getting this right, but it also halts everything.
JUST PICK ONE…
A good example of analysis paralysis is choosing online business tools to use in your business.
For example email service… It is a financial and time investment to sign up email service provider. It takes money and effort to learn a new platform and it can be time-consuming to change later on.
To ensure you find the “right” email service provider you read blogs, you ask advice on Facebook groups, you call a friend, read another 10 blog posts… you know what I am talking about? Analysis paralysis has arrived…
I totally get the thinking, getting it right is a big thing but…
It is much better to just pick one (literally any) and start using it in your business to generate income than wait another month (or months more likely) to gain clarity which one is the best.
That same scenario can be about any other business tool like webinar software, funnel app, hiring a coach or mentor for your business etc.
OK is OK
I think one of the most important parts is to be ok with ok. Perfection is business dreams killer. Nothing will ever be perfect, nor timing will ever be perfect so you might as well just dive into the deep end and go with it. Especially in business, decision are quite small in the end of the day.
Sure it is time-consuming to change email marketing provider later on, but to be honest, once you are at that stage in your business, you’ll just hire someone to do it for you!
One thing that often stops entrepreneurs is picking a logo and color scheme for your brand. Logo and colors have literally stopped some amazing businesses to launch for months and months.
I am a very visual person and me too, want colors just to work and logo be creative. I got over this by sticking with same typographical logo template for all my brands and using just a few colors across brands. This stops me from the get go and does not allow me to go to analysis paralysis.
At the end of the day a buyer does not care the least bit how your logo looks like or how the colors work together – all they want is a solution to their problem.
Be ok with ok, pick one today and fly with it. You can come back to it later one if needed.
PUT YOURSELF ON THE CLOCK
Whenever you realize that you are tossing over a decision for too long, put a timer on the decision. Set a deadline when you must make the decision and to act on it.
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Parkinson’s Law
This means you will use whatever time you gave yourself to do a task or decision. If you do not put a deadline on it, analysis paralysis will run wild and take over your decision process.
How much time you should give yourself depends on the importance of the decision. There are no set rules about this but if you suffer from major paralysis, try giving yourself a short time to make a decision just to get over it. Longer the time, more likely you are also trying to talk yourself out of it again and paralysis again takes over.
CALL COACH/MENTOR
Stuck in the endless decision process that gets you nowhere? Calling a coach or mentor is a great way to get some clarity on your decision. We have a bit of a habit to make things bigger than they are, especially after we’ve been going over and over it in our heads, hearing other peoples opinion is golden at this point.
Especially with business decisions, nothing better than calling a mentor or coach who can help you gain clarity and lead you to a decision point. They’ll give you a trusted and experience opinion what should be the next step.
SMALL DECISION vs BIG DECISION
Take time to think if the issues you are thinking is a small or big decision.
What is the impact of the decision to your business?
Does it directly impact on your sales or is it really a nice to have?
Going back to logo and colors. Yes both do impact on your income but to the same extent as hosting a webinar where you sell your products or services. Hence logo and colors is a small decision, webinar a big decision. Once you have sales coming in, you can focus on logo and colors as much as you want – and hire an expert on the subject to really make an impact on your bottom line.
I am going add one one more here… what is the impact on your business.
BUSINESS IMPACT
This goes closely on the previous tip – sit back and think what is the business impact of this decision. Does it directly affect your bottom line results and your bank account balance?
Many ponder over sales funnels and should I choose Clickfunnels, Convertri, Leadpages or (add your choice here), should I hire someone or do it myself or, or, or… analysis paralysis working over time.
A funnel has potential to transform your business and your life making it a critical business decision. I bet once you decide to invest into funnels and seeing the results you’ll be kicking yourself in the but for not making the decision earlier.
If you are pondering on what tool to use for your business, pick one from my Online Business Tools list and start making money.
YOUR TURN NOW
What was the last thing you pondered over for too long?
