Help! I am suffering from Analysis Paralysis
Exactly 4 weeks to go before turning 35, I have gotten stuck in what they call Analysis Paralysis, not taking action because of the need to investigate and prepare too much. Yep, did not even know it existed but after reading too many blogs and articles, feeling like my mind is overflowing with information, I have auto diagnosed myself with this nasty little disease.
I don’t know where it comes from, whether it is set off by soon having to add another year to my age soon and not fulfilling set expectation patterns of 35 year old women or just by plain excitement over too many new ideas and plans which I all want to brainstorm and carefully work out before starting them or maybe perfectionism has got something to do with it.
Being a perfectionist really sucks at times. Of course it is great once you have gotten to the level you actually only need to tweak and improve on details, but at the stage of not even having started for real, it is a big handicap. Perfectionism just makes you not even start things at times, because of the need to make it perfect from the start and the fear of failure even before really starting.
So here I am, suffering from Analysis Paralysis after the recent information overload through researching, sitehopping and entrecarddropping. And you know what is really stupid… because of all the websites I come across daily and all the things I read and notice, I am becoming more and more critical of my own work, even though I am looking the proof in the eye that nobody is perfect at all, not even the best bloggers nor the people that make most money online.
The thing they do have in common though, is that they act on their ideas and get things done. Tweak what works and skip what doesn’t. Repeat the actions that showed positive results and drop the negative crap.
Now, after all the information of the last months, there are a few things that cross my mind. There is a huge amount of information available online and that amount just keeps growing and growing with immense speed daily. Most of it is complete crap, especially if you research the area of online marketing or money-making resources.
Good thing is that in time you get to read between the lines, you get to know what is really useless and what is high quality information, but you might also come to find that most big shots online don’t really spend their “secretâ€, they will give you little flashes and hints of how to succeed, just enough to make you hang around hungry for more and too little to have you go off and actually do it on your own. After all, they don’t really want you to succeed, because if you do, you don’t need them anymore, hence they would lose you as a visitor (read way to make money).
I even researched the term “analysis paralysis†this morning, recognizing the problem is the first step to curing it so they say, and the only real cure for the problem seems to be, being bold and taking action today.
So, off I go, wishing you all a great weekend, while I am just going to do it!
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My name is Mirjam and I welcome you to my blog about personal growth and the things I think about. I´m on a journey of improving my life and I hope you will drop in often and participate. Thanks for visiting!
MirJam:
What’s Nike’s slogan? “Just Do It”
I used to have the same problem. I want to make sure everything I do is perfect to avoid mistakes and wasting money. It turns out that I will make more stupid mistakes and waste more money. Most importantly, I missed the opportunities.
We should all learn from the baby. They don’t do investigation before they walk. They keep trying it. They fall and try it again. They put everything into their mouth with out even thinking about it. That’s because they are always learning new things around them. Life is all about keep trying and learn from the mistake.
It’s weekend! Get out of house and hang out with friends or do some charity works. Try to find inspiration. Pay attention on what other people is doing and how you can improve their life or make their job easier with your perfectionist. Keep in mind. Internet is just a TOOL to generate cash flow for any business ideas.
Do you remember how we met on the Internet? You came to my blog asking something that you really like to sell? How is it going? Have you made any progress?
Have a great weekend!
The Internet Entrepreneur Diary’s last blog post..Work Hard & Play Hard - My confession of guiltiness
Hey Terence!
I do remember, and yes I am progressing with that proyect, still having a bit of trouble with the finance part but should have that resolved next month, thanks for asking!
You are right, I should just go out and take my mind off of things
Have a great weekend yourself aswell!
To paralyze ones self in with thought about what one may do is a natural occurrence. Think of your survival instinct as a guitar amp. Sometimes we we find that our amp goes to 11 instead of 10. Sometimes we crank it to 11. Now not only is our instinct keeping us from harm but also keeping us from living.
There really are times that you just have to forget about how deep the water is and just jump in. The trick is recognizing when.
I have always said that some people are born stupid and others have to work at it. I have to work at it and some days I put in overtime.
I love your open honesty. It’s why I keep coming back every day to see what you have written now. Keep it up lady.
Jim - Just a Guy’s last blog post..Weekly Blog Storm
thank you Jim, your comments are always great to read
You are right, I do have to switch off some of the worries and analysing and just go with the flow a bit more, focussing on getting things done rather than thinking about how
Thanks man!
Any time. You’re are some one I respect so I anytime I can help out I am quite pleased to do so.
Jim - Just a Guy’s last blog post..Weekly Blog Storm
I agree with Jim.
Your blog is full of your personality, that makes me coming back every time I read your blog on Google Reader.
It’s funny, while I told you to hang out with friend over the weekend, I am sitting here type the comment and work….
That’s it. I will see you on Monday! Gotta get myself a cup of coffee and enjoy the hot Desert Sunny Day.
The Internet Entrepreneur Diary’s last blog post..Work Hard & Play Hard - My confession of guiltiness
See you back on Monday, hopefully with a one of those great inspiring posts you always write!
Haha, I really love this post
We have all suffered from Analysis Paralysis, don’t worry! Its best to just sit down and trust one system above all others. I recommend SiteCounter or Google Analytics. This way, at least when you are mindlessly trashing your mind with stats, you are only going to one place to tear your brain apart
Jim’s last blog post..Top Five Reasons Nobody Likes Your Blog
Hi Jim,
but thank you for the recommendations 
it is not really the statistics that I am referring to, but rather the over- planning, over-analyzing and information overload before starting a new proyect that paralises
I have a proven practice for analysis paralysis that works for individuals or teams:
1. Carve up your day. Example:
- 1 hour for administration
- 1 hour for research
- 3 hours for execution (with a break 1/2 way)
2. Identify the three most valuable things you can do during your execution time.
3. At the end of the day, list your outcomes and activities.
This works because you’re carving out time for results.
It also works because you get what you measure.
You will feel good because your mind will focus on both your activities and your outcomes.
Here’s some rituals for results:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jmeier/archive/2007/12/27/rituals-for-results.aspx
If you’re looking for bigger picture, here’s two ways:
1. How to figure out what you really want - http://thebookshare.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-to-figure-out-what-you-really-want.html
2. Find your five key strengths - http://thebookshare.blogspot.com/2008/02/finding-your-key-strengths.html
Here is a true secret that will help you balance your quest for continuous improvement.
Invest your time and energy into a portfolio of results like this:
- Mind
- Body
- Heart
- Career
- Financial
- Relationships
It’s the secret because if you don’t have this frame, you can easily spend all your energy in one bucket, at the expense of another. For example, you can trade your health for your wealth. Here’s a concrete example, if you schedule two lunches each week, one with an old friend and one with a new friend, you will grow your relationship bucket. In this life, it’s both what you know and who you know. Relationships and balancing across the buckets will help you stay on your horse, when life tries to knock you down.
One other secret — use metaphors to help you. For example, to defeat perfectionism, call your project “an experiment.” This puts the focus on learning and will help you overcome resistance.
Here is a post I turn to, whenever I face resistance. It’s a healthy reminder of what growth feels like and that when you learn something new, you need to arrange it like incremental hurdles:
- how to overcome resistance: http://thebookshare.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-overcome-resistance.html
J.D.’s last blog post..Designing Organizational Architecture
Hey JD welcome to my blog and thanks for the recommendations and your time replying to this post. Very interesting articles, I scanned them for now but will have a closer look tomorrow. Today I am going to take Terence advice and just enjoy, it looks like it will be a nice sunny Sunday
The important thing is to do something. Start somewhere. Pick one and do it!
Larry’s last blog post..Night time Bass Fishing-A loud splash in the Night
[…] visitor of my blog, you will by now know that there are a few things I am struggling with, like the Analysis Paralysis I mentioned 2 weeks ago for example and finding it hard to work on some sort of schedule simply to […]