The short answer
Decision fatigue is what happens when the decisions do not stop and the good ones start costing more than you have. Analysis paralysis is its cousin: the decision that has enough information and still does not get made. If you run a small business, you get both, because every decision is yours and none of them come with a deadline you did not set yourself.
How to spot it
- The same question has been open in three different notes.
- You have researched the options twice and can recite them.
- "I'll decide next week" has been true for a month.
- Small choices (what to reply, which plan to pick) feel as heavy as big ones.
What is actually stuck
A decision that will not close is almost always a does not know stall wearing the costume of "needs more information". What it needs is not more information. It needs a first version to disagree with. A bad draft of the decision ("we go with option B, here is why, here is what we lose") turns an open question into an edit, and edits are fast.
What to do
- Write the decision as if it were already made. One paragraph. Wrong is fine.
- Give it a date. Not "next week". A weekday.
- Name what you will do on that day if you still have not decided. Usually: take the draft.
- Tell one person the date.
What it looks like
Friday. You said you'd pick the pricing model today. Here's the version I'd argue for: usage-based, three tiers, grandfather the eleven current customers. You'll hate the tiers. Edit that and it's done.
Behind this is usually someone who does not know. This is how June looks at everything. Here is why.