My 93-year-old father believes strongly that indecision and uncertainty are the cause of more unhappiness than almost any other states of being. The older I get, the more I think he’s right.

Making choices has been a hot topic in the online business world lately. Jane Pollak recently blogged about feeling overwhelmed with too many choices and the importance of using your values and priorities to help you decide what to do in certain situations. In her case, she decided to put some very important things aside for awhile to do something even more important…spend time with her new granddaughter. “I don’t do well at buffets,” she opined. “Talk about leaving money on the table! Too many temptations, not enough appetite.”

Just this morning, in a video for budding entrepreneurs who have trouble deciding on their business niche when they have many areas of expertise or interests, Marie Forleo addressed the angst of indecision in business and talked about how crippling it can be. ”Clarity calls for engagement, not thought,” she said wisely. (This is reminiscent of Laura Roeder‘s advice to me awhile back: “Don’t overthink this, Elizabeth!”) Business owners who try to be everything to everyone often miss the mark completely.

In my own life, I find myself being stretched too thin, simply because I have so many interests, so much ability to tackle problems I see all around me, so much desire to make a difference and share what I know, that often I’m almost paralyzed, simply because I haven’t focused. I spend more time running in place than moving towards meaningful goals. I am trying to remind myself (apparently I’m a slow learner) that just because I CAN doesn’t mean I SHOULD.

Suzy Welch, in her book 10-10-10, dealt with this issue in a very simple and constructive way. She advises that whenever you’re faced with a hard decision, think about the impact of each option in the context of the next ten minutes, the next ten months, and the next ten years. If one of your choices can be more positive than another in most or all of those timeframes, then it becomes clearly the better choice. It is an especially wonderful way to distinguish the “urgent” from the “important.” You can read my review of this book elswhere in this blog.

Face indecision head-on whenever you can. Even dealing with the fall-out from a bad decision can be opportunity for learning and growth. Learning to tap into what’s truly important to you for more effective decision-making is an important part of learning to connect with yourself, your values and your priorities. When these are in synch, you’ll be much happier.

Have any thought processes or tips been especially helpful to you when you’ve been faced with too many choices…or difficult choices? Have you found a way to give yourself a kick in the pants to get yourself out of a state of indecision? Please share in the comment section below.

Photo Credit: Kamil Macniak via iStockPhoto

Jane Pollak is a favorite blogger and author of mine (Jane Pollak: Leading remarkable women to uncommon success), because she understands that personal and professional success comes from paying attention to others and bringing value to all your relationships.

Jane Pollak

Today’s post on her blog, entitled What do you notice?, was a powerful reminder to anyone that the things we notice say a great deal about us. What interested me particularly about this idea is not only the reminder that we need to pay closer attention to our clients,  prospects and loved ones — their needs and wants — but that we can learn a lot about ourselves (for good or bad) by paying attention to what we notice. This struck me as a helpful tool for someone trying to understand themselves better, especially if they are trying to identify their own strengths, their aptitudes, or their niche in life or business.

Start paying attention to what you notice and think about what you can learn about yourself. Take notes and spend some time later going over those notes. You’ll be amazed at things you’ve missed simply because you weren’t paying attention to the things you were noticing (I’m smiling as I write that).

• Do you notice people’s emotions, e.g., whether they  seem happy, unhappy or distracted?
• Do you notice how people look or how they act or what they’re wearing?
• Do you read things and notice ways they could have been written more clearly?
• Do you notice things in a store and think of ways they could have been designed to be more useful?
• Do you notice bright, vibrant colors, or are you drawn to muted tones and pastels?
• Do you notice how you feel in different situations and what things energize you, excite you, or burden you?
• Do you notice those less fortunate than yourself and find yourself longing to help them?
• Have you noticed whether you work better alone or with others?
• Have you noticed how you feel when you encounter a problem? Do you itch to solve it or look for a way around it?
• Does complexity inspire or frustrate you?

Each of these things could be telling you something about what is important to you and what you do best. You might be wonderful at helping others with their problems. You might have an aptitude for engineering or design. You might rock at editing and proofreading. Get my drift?

Here are some things I’ve noticed about myself:

• A blank sheet of paper intimidates me if I think I have to draw on it, but if I think I can write words on it, then I am inspired and energized. This tells me that I AM creative, but just in a different way than my artist friends are.
• I have a hard time relaxing. This tells me that I need to focus on taking time to do nothing or to be intentional about my down time so I’ll refresh myself and be more productive.
• I will give almost anyone a piece of my time if there’s a hole in my calendar, but I rarely carve out time for myself and reaching my own goals. This has got to stop or I’ll burn out.
• I have a hard time defining a business niche for myself because I’m so interested in so many varying things and am easily distracted (I’m writing this blog post instead of doing something else that should have taken priority). I haven’t figured this one out yet, but I hope that awareness is a step in the right direction.

What do YOU notice? What do you think it’s saying about who you are and what you value?

Photo credit for “Blue Eye”: Jeff Bettens (via http://www.sxc.hu), Belgium, www.iamjef.be

I explored this question in a guest blog post today for AvoLead, the Abundance Leadership consulting company (I’m proud to add that my sister, Sarah Albritton, is a co-founder and principal of AvoLead). It was inspired by reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin and its e-book companion Insubordination.

Read my post here.

And then embrace your inner Artist!

Please share with us in the Comments below the times when you’ve allowed your inner artist to come out.