Many times, the ability to face day-to-day challenges is not explained so much by knowledge, but by fluidity when making decisions. That is why having problems in this aspect can constitute a significant obstacle when adapting to the environment, both professionally and personally.
Luckily, with psychological support it is possible to overcome these types of problems, but to intervene in them it helps a lot to understand their causes and triggers. Therefore, in this article we will a review of the main causes of difficulty making decisions
There are practically no psychological problems whose causes can be fully described in a brief list; Furthermore, it is normal for there to be several of them interacting with each other. Therefore, what you will find below is more than anything a summary of the causes of the difficulties in making decisions that are very common, although keep in mind that some of them may partially overlap.
Of course, in the event that you are going to go to the psychologist because of problems related to decision-making and performance when facing tasks and responsibilities in general, keep in mind that it is not necessary for you to know in advance what exactly it is. what’s the matter. Part of the work of psychology professionals who care for patients involves studying each specific case and finding out the causes What’s behind your discomfort?
Perfectionism can have the opposite effect to that desired, paralyzing people, given that many times they do not decide to take the step from ideas to practice
The reason is that this would imply exposing the imperfections of the outlined plan, so they continue to think about their project indefinitely. As a result, by the time they start doing what they want to do, it is common that they no longer have enough time to do what they wanted to do in the first place, leading to frustration.
2. Lack of assertiveness
Some decisions have to do with taking the step of communicating something uncomfortable or potentially conflictive to another person: for example, that we have not yet started working on a project because we have not had time, that we want to break up with our relationship, etc. Therefore, the lack of assertiveness is one of the possible causes of difficulties in reaching a final decision regarding something that also involves others. In these cases it is important to work on social skills and managing the fear of rejection.
3. Dependency
Getting used to depending 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 these types of situations it is common not to feel good about any decision we make for ourselves, which encourages us to always ask for the guidance or opinion of that reference figure. This not only limits our freedom, but also fuels the problem, since it makes the fact of deciding for ourselves even more exceptional.
Psychological rumination consists of being unable to stop our “train of thoughts” when it brings to our mind over and over again the same type of images, ideas, worries… Therefore, it is a phenomenon associated with intrusive thoughts and anxiety, since It is what stresses us the most and has the greatest capacity to sneak into our consciousness without permission.
Not knowing how to correctly regulate psychological rumination causes many people to start wandering and to notice how their mind “disperses” before reaching a firm conclusion about what they think about.
You may be interested: “Rumination: the annoying vicious circle of thought”
5. Poor management of distractors
Although the causes of the difficulty in making decisions that we have seen so far are mainly introspective as they are based on mental processes, we must not forget that the way in which 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 elements that distract us.
Taking into account that weighing pros and cons to finally “take a risk” by making a decision requires concentration, The place in which we dedicate ourselves to carrying out these activities greatly influences Furthermore, in work situations it is usually common to always be in the same place when having to choose between different alternatives, so making small changes in that environment can make a quite noticeable difference from the first week.
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If you want psychological assistance, I invite you to contact me.
I am an expert psychologist in the cognitive-behavioral intervention model and I serve adults and adolescents in areas such as improving emotional regulation, adopting better work habits, time management, techniques to mitigate stress and anxiety, and more. The sessions can be done in person at my office in Madrid, or they can be done online by video call.
