Paralysis by Analysis aka Analysis Paralysis

AWP

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Many of us suffer from this and while there are numerous links on the Net, here are some of my thoughs and we welcome yours as well.

I "get it", you want the best for yourself and your familiy: education, career, a new car, a house, etc. Level of difficulty: so many choices. Too many options. Buying a new gun or a computer? Loads of options, what's right for you? So you see, this isn't confined to choosing an MOS or branch, this isn't just about "I want to do x, but I also want to do y," this is something you'll see your entire life.

These decisions are elephants and how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. In this case, what cut of meat matters the most?

- Buying a new computer: focus on the one component you have to have and build from there.
- Military career: what one thing, what branch, matters the most? You want to...do medical stuff? What units or jobs allow that? What do they do, do those missions interest you? What's the training like? Path to get there? Continuing education? Transition to a post-military career? SO MANY OPTIONS!!!! Back up though, take the one thing that matters the most and use that as your center point.
- A gun: Caliber? Brand? Size? What matters? Start from there.

Hopefully you get the idea.

Look, you can come on here and ask us about x, y, and z, but if you can't define your starting point we can't help you. If you're so lost that your only starting point is that you want to wear a uniform or you want a pistol? Yikes.

Anyone have any other tips or ideas?
 
If this is in part a reaction to my thread. I appreciate the advice. I suppose these sorts of broad questions in regards to career, such as the one I asked, are all too common on these forums. My apologies. You can't make up my mind for me, only I can do that for myself. I'll eventually have to pick one path and execute securing the final goal one step at a time, as you said.
 
Prefacing with this is in the paralysis phase.

My thought when I go down this road is: At some point you have to do something. There is a point where more analysis stops adding marginal value. Doing nothing is also a decision with an outcome and consequences, this must be understood.

What gives confidence to do is a mastery of fundamentals, a solid foundation to work off of. The better you are at the fundamentals, the more situations you can be put in, and have skill sets to work out of efficiently, effectively, and correctly. Put the time in, if you don't it will show, it always does. What I have noticed is that if you go farther in work/sports/etc - the better you have to be and the speed at which you need to make decisions picks up, along with the downside consequences of failure. That is life, get used to it.

Many times, the act of doing is difficult because people haven't put the work in prior so they doubt their abilities. Not everyone wants to carry the weight of making decisions or doing, but many want the idea or sense of worth that they do. Some people love analyzing things to death but don't like to make decisions, in my work field those people are our analysts. There are careers for that, they are just as important as those making decisions off the information provided. Shit in = Shit out, Quality In = Hopefully Quality Out.

Take honest stock of who you are and what you want. Set yourself up for success. Do not let the fundamentals erode or deteriorate. Stay hungry, stay learning. Everyone gets a little nervous, don't let that overcome you. I like that butterfly feeling, keeps me honest.

My .02
 
What do you want, versus what can you do?

What resources do you have, versus as what resources do you need?

What is the bare minimum you need to complete a task/mission/etc.?

Set immediate, mid-range, and long-range goals.
 
Paralysis by Analysis is so much more debilitating than some people think.
80% effort will win the day so often that it is hard to even convince people how often an 80% percent solution got the job done.
100% is the enemy of success in nearly every human endeavor because true "perfection" simply is not possible. Somebody - somewhere - WILL find something wrong with the plan that you have laid out...
...and then you are back to the drawing board.

The paint is dry, the carpet is down, the house is decorated, and dinner is on the table - meanwhile, the indecisive are still trying to figure out what shade of "white" will look best on the walls.
Sometimes the answer doesn't even require analysis - Nespresso vs Kuerig - get both !!

"The facts change" - if you can't change with them - well - you will spend your life analyzing them.
 
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Prioritize, research the priority, focus, train-up, execute.

MDMP, BTW is the Military Decision-Making Process which can be bulky and over-planned, everything thought-out to the smallest detail. "Perfection" as @Box says, that starts to unravel once the first trigger is pulled. Simplify...
 
Perfection is the enemy of good. A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan never executed. Use whatever sound bites you like.

You guys teach the stuff to SoF candidates all the time. I teach it to new nursing graduates and new physicians (interns, residents).
 
The Army has a website to plan out your career path, providing assignment requirements at each rank in your applicable career field. Plus a whole bunch of other shit. In mine, it gives options for broadening assignments. In one unit description it simply stated, "you will serve as a member of a team and that's all we can pretty much say. If this interests you, you'll just need to take a leap of faith. Email us @..."

The point I'm trying to make, don't set your sights on the final target because you might miss out on the other opportunities. Planning is cool and all, but you can't plan for what you don't know. Take the leap of faith.

MDMP that shit. Seriously, it works. I’m going through this now: Nespresso vs Kuerig.

If you get both, you'll need an ETP signed by an O-6.
 
Very guilty of this myself.
Luckily I've trained to have almost built in "snap-out-of-it" moments but it seems my brain is wired so as to over analyze.

Great post, thank you for the perspective.
 
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