Make That Decision!
Have you ever delayed making a decision because you wanted just a little bit more information? Maybe you told yourself you needed to read one more article, do a little bit more research or talk through it one more time with another person—or maybe you just kept replaying the same thoughts in your head, inevitably creating more questions than answers.
Most of us have been there. Whether it’s less significant choices like picking what to make for dinner or deciding where to travel next, or more important ones, like navigating a critical issue at work or even wondering whether it’s time to change careers, it’s easy to get stuck.
The result is often the same: you either stay frozen in indecision or you take so long to decide that, by the time you do, you’ve wasted energy and time—only to realize you’re still in exactly the same place as when you started. And when that happens, it’s no surprise that frustration follows. I know that feeling well.
Before we get into how to move past this, let’s pause for a moment to understand why this happens.
Very often, overthinking is not about the decision itself—it’s about what lies underneath. For many of my clients, it comes down to perfectionism: the belief that there is a “right” decision waiting to be uncovered, and that by making the wrong one, we will be made to face irreversible consequences.
Others struggle with fear of failure, worrying that a choice made too soon might lead to regret or judgment. Some want to maintain a sense of control, convinced that gathering more information will guarantee a better outcome. And for many, the uncertainty itself feels deeply uncomfortable—so they delay action in hopes that the passage of time will bring clarity. But time rarely brings clarity on its own; action does.
The 70% Rule
No matter the reason, there’s a simple principle you can use to escape this cycle. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, once shared a decision-making rule that changed his approach: “Most decisions should probably be made with around 70% of the information you wish you had.” His logic was that if you wait for 90% or 100% certainty, you’re moving too slowly—and the cost of hesitation is often higher than the cost of what many times will be a simple and correctable mistake.
He also differentiated between two types of decisions:
Two-way door decisions: Reversible choices that allow you to course-correct if things don’t work out.
One-way door decisions: Irreversible ones that require more time and consideration.
The reality is, most of our daily and professional decisions are two-way doors. Which means the real risk isn’t making the wrong decision—it’s delaying making a decision or, worse, not making any decision at all.
Next time you catch yourself overthinking, try this simple process:
Ask yourself, “Do I have 70% of the information I need?”
If the answer is yes, act. Make the best decision you can with what you have today.
Remind yourself: You can always adjust later—decisions and their consequences are data points, not verdicts.
Reflect: “What’s the smallest next step I can take to test this path?”
You don’t need 100% confidence or 100% information or 100% certainty. You just need enough to get going. And you can always turn around and walk back through the door if you need to, even though you don’t see it that way yet.
After learning about the 70% rule, I decided to put it into practice right away. I was in the middle of planning the last day of our upcoming Christmas break trip and found myself trapped in a familiar spiral—opening endless tabs, comparing towns, hotels, and reading through every single review in search of the “best” option. It had turned into a marathon of research that only made me more confused. So I stopped. I asked myself whether I already had 70% of the information I needed in order to make a decision where to spend that last night—and I did.
I booked the hotel for our last night of the trip right then in a cute town a couple of hours north of Boston. And it felt liberating. Not because I was sure it was the perfect choice (there are a lot of picturesque towns in New England), but because I finally moved forward and had already found what I needed. More importantly, making the decision freed up space for something else—something more important that has been waiting in line.
If I had to guess, I’d say that you’ve already found what you needed as well. So go ahead, make that decision and move forward. You can always add those last 30% later—and more often than not, they’ll reveal themselves in the very momentum you’ve now created.
The rest will unfold as you move forward.
