Choice Overload: How to Deal

There are so many choices these days. From choosing where to live and what to drive to the smaller things like the soap we want to use or the vegetables we want to eat for dinner.

We have constant choices pulling at us to make a decision quickly so we can move on to the next.

It does not stop at our personal life, though. As an entrepreneur, choices flow into our business as well. We have choices in the partners we associate with, who we hire, the hours we work and the prices we charge.

It’s no wonder why we get choice overload and are exhausted at the end of the day.

I’m not saying that having choices is bad. Actually, choices are great, but too many at once and rushing through can get us off our path of doing what we love.

So how do we stop being overloaded by choices?

We have to slow down. When things are coming at us, fast choices usually get chosen based on emotions, which is not a good idea when it comes to business.

I know what you’re thinking. Slow down? How is that possible? I am running a business. Decisions have to be made.

You're right - decisions have to be made, but you want to make the right one and the right one usually can't always be chosen when you feel pressured, rushed and overloaded.

Even if you thrive in that atmosphere, slow down and know your boundaries. When you start to feel pressured, STOP and acknowledge it happening. Sometimes all you need to do is acknowledge it to yourself. If you need to share it with someone else, be polite and simply say something like “I’ll need to get back to you on that.”

Then give yourself the time and space to make the right choice.

When you're overloaded this, is where procrastination loves to sneak in, so it's very important to give yourself a time frame of when you will make the choice. Depending on its level of urgency, you might only have less than an hour, while other choices you can take a day or more on.

If you need to get over the procrastination hurdle, set a date and let someone else know when your choice will be made. Just make sure this is not going to overload you more.

Next, limit your choices. This is a hard one for entrepreneurs since it's the freedom of choice that usually drove us to be our own boss. But we absolutely need to break down the overload by limiting our choices.

In my experience it is best to limit yourself to only 3 choices.

You can evaluate the choices easily when you have fewer things to compare. No matter what level your business is at, the way you make your choices matters. So slow down, set a specific date when you will make the choice and limit the options set before you.

You will begin to notice as you do this process over and over that choices come much more easily and you are not so overloaded even on the busiest of days.

So how do you currently handle choices? Are you overloaded?

Have you tried these tips? If so, how did they work for you?