Top 5 Causes of Difficulty Making Decisions

A summary of the main causes of problems and lack of fluency in decision making.

Often, the ability to cope with day-to-day challenges is not so much explained by knowledge, but by fluidity in decision making. That is why having problems in this aspect can be a major obstacle when it comes to adapting to the environment, both professionally and personally.

Fortunately, with psychological support it is possible to overcome this kind of problems, but to intervene in them it helps a lot to understand their causes and triggers. For this reason, in this article we will a review of the main causes of the difficulty to take decisions..

5 causes of decision-making difficulties

There is practically no psychological problem whose causes can be fully described in a short list; moreover, there are usually several of them interacting with each other. Therefore, what you will find below is mostly a summary of the causes of decision-making difficulties that are very common, although keep in mind that some of them may partially overlap.

However, in the event that you are going to see a psychologist because of problems related to decision-making and performance in dealing with tasks and responsibilities in general, keep in mind that you do not need to know in advance exactly what is wrong with you. Part of the job of psychology professionals who see patients is to study each individual case and find out the causes behind your discomfort. behind your discomfort.

1. Extreme perfectionism

Perfectionism can have the opposite effect to the desired one, paralyzing people, since they often do not decide to take the step from ideas to practice. they are often reluctant to take the step from ideas to practice..

The reason is that this would mean exposing the imperfections of the plan, so they continue to dwell on their project indefinitely. As a result, by the time they implement what they want to do, they often don't have enough time to do what they originally wanted to do, leading to frustration.

2. Lack of assertiveness

Some decisions have to do with taking the step of communicating something uncomfortable or potentially conflicting to another person.For example, we have not yet started working on a project because we have not had the time, we want to break up with our partner, etc. Therefore, the lack of assertiveness is one of the possible causes of the difficulties to reach a definitive decision in front of something that also involves others. In these cases it is important to work on social skills and the management of fear of rejection.

3. Dependence

The fact that we get used to depend on another person is reflected in many ways in our way of thinking, behaving and feeling, and some of them are quite subtle.

For example, in this kind of situation it is common not to feel good about any decision we make on our own, which prompts us to ask for help.This prompts us to always ask for the guidance or opinion of that reference figure. This not only limits our freedom, but also fuels the problem, as it makes it even more exceptional to decide for ourselves.

4. Psychological rumination

The psychological rumination consists of being unable to stop our "train of thoughts" when it brings to our mind again and again the same type of images, ideas, worries... Therefore, it is a phenomenon associated with intrusive thoughts and anxiety, since it is that which stresses us the most that has a greater capacity to slip into our consciousness without permission.

Not knowing how to correctly regulate psychological rumination makes many people start to wander and notice how their mind "wanders". and notice how their mind "wanders" before reaching a firm conclusion about what they are thinking about.

5. Poor management of distractors

Although the causes of the difficulty in making decisions that we have seen so far are mostly introspective in nature as they are based on mental processes, we must not forget that the way we interact with the environment is also part of psychology. In this sense, part of the problem may lie in the habit of working and making decisions in environments full of distracting elements.

Taking into account that weighing pros and cons to finally "risk" taking a decision requires concentration, the place in which we engage in these activities has a great influence.. In addition, in work situations it is common to always be in the same place when having to choose between different alternatives, so making small changes in that environment can make the difference in a quite noticeable way from the first week.

Are you interested in professional psychological support?

If you want to have psychological assistance, I invite you to contact me.

I am an expert psychologist in the cognitive-behavioral intervention model and I assist adults and adolescents in areas such as improving emotional regulation, adopting better work habits, time management, techniques to mitigate stress and anxiety, and more. Sessions can be done in person at my office in Madrid, or they can be done online via video call.