Something I struggle with is overthinking things. In fact, it is something that has been happening to me over the past few weeks.

This often comes about when we have to think about making big decisions. Whether it’s about moving jobs, moving location, starting a business or committing to a diet. We think about the positives and negatives making a decision can bring. What are the risks? What are the rewards? What will happen if I fail? What will people say if I do this? What will people say if I don’t do this? The problem is that we think, we brainstorm, and then we think some more. Then we get stuck in this thinking stage. This is often exacerbated by the number of options we have available to us, which makes the decision-making process more thorough.

Don’t get me wrong. forward planning and risk aversion is important, particularly when it concerns important business or career decisions. But, it also goes without saying that for as long we keep thinking and never step forwards to take action, we can never make any progress. Even worse, we may never realise that the beautiful thing that we’ve been so meticulously planning may not be the right course for us after all.

My personal feeling is that sometimes, we just need to commit. Nothing is ever going to feel 100% “right”.

Making a career change is scary. Moving to a completely new country is scary. These are big decisions that require (and rightfully so) a lot of planning. But I guarantee you that no matter how much planning and forward thinking you do, you will still have doubts. You will still think or wait for another option, just in case you may miss something that is better for you.

The truth is, there are so many options and things to do, if we thought about each one, we would end up thinking for the rest of our lives, rather than acting. This is often called Analysis Paralysis.

Let me put it this way, when doing an experiment, there’s no “do it right or do it again.” Instead, it’s “do it and see what happens.” I mean, that’s why it’s called an experiment, right? This iterative approach frees us from the need to always get it right.

There’s no agonizing over the right decision, and there are rarely regrets. Because all you need is an answer, not a victory.