Procrastination is the gap between intention and action

And it is one of the highest forms of self-sabotage. We all do it at times, but when you do it often, you probably have trouble with decision making.

Procrastination is the gap between intention and action, and that gap undermines effective behavior. (Not deciding is a behavior too, and sometimes it actually is the best course of action–like not sending that angry email you wrote.) But sometimes we don’t decide to act because we aren’t sure what to do, or we want to avoid making a mistake, or–we are just plain tired of trying to figure things out.

When you aren’t sure what to do, or you draw a blank about how to start a task, the easy out is to put it off until later. That’s the way you avoid the anxiety that comes when you aren’t clear about what you want to do.

The best thing to do when you aren’t sure is to just get started. Put down one sentence on the page. Go to epicurious.com to get some ideas about dinner. Call several painters to get estimates. Whether it is writing, making dinner, or getting the house painted, you have to break the problem down into small steps.

Don’t listen to that little voice in your head said says, “I’ll feel more like doing this later.” You’ll feel better if you take the first step. That often open ups the motivation for the rest of the task.

But, you say, you want to make the “right” choice. You don’t want to make a mistake. You need to check out all the options; find the best for the cheapest.

If so, you are called a “maximizer,” as opposed to a satisficer. A maximizer wants to make the best possible decision–or avoid making a bad decision–but in doing so the maximizer spends too much time deciding and pays a psychological cost: lasting uncertainty and the fear of regret. If you are a maximizer, even once you decide, you have to decide if your decision was really the right one!

What can you do to move closer to the satisficer end of the spectrum–the end where you can settle on a choice without torturing yourself through indecision?

First, set a reasonable time limit for future searches. So if you are trying to decide where to go on vacation next year, set a limit of, say, two months to gather ideas and decide. Then pick a place (and stick with it).

To help with decision making, stick with the same brands (or hotels, or restaurants, or vacation venues, or cruise line) you have enjoyed in the past.

Make your decisions irreversible, (which happens to help you like them more). Don’t rethink your choices to death. Get the vacation on your calendar, make your airline and other reservations, and forget it.

The New York Times recently published an article on “decision fatigue.” The bottom line is that making decisions takes mental energy and the more decisions you make, the more fatigued you get. The more details you have to deal with, the more mental fatigue you suffer. The more complicated the process, the more fragile your willpower to decide becomes. All of this takes energy, so you better be eating in a healthy way.

The problem with becoming mentally depleted is that you become reluctant to make trade-offs, which involve a particularly advanced and taxing form of decision making. Often it takes being willing to make compromises in order to make a decision. Do I want the large apartment with no yard for X amount of rent, or the small one with a yard and Y amount of rent?

It’s easier to compromise when you only focus on one dimension, like the cheapest, or the best quality. But the more dimensions you involve, the higher the potential fatigue level.  And the more fatigue, the more vulnerable you become to a slick-talking marketer–or to deciding to put it off till later.

So what can you do to reduce the risk of decision fatigue? Well, one thing might be to make the most important or difficult decisions early in the day, before fatigue sets in. Or, reduce the number of dimensions you use to make a particular decision.

The toughest decisions are usually those involving finances. Here, one type of decision is what to do to just survive on a tight budget—how to keep house and home together. But beyond survival there are decisions about big expenditures or where and what to invest in.

Some research has found that when the poor (those on a tight budget) and the rich (those with more expendable income) go shopping, the poor are much more likely to eat during a shopping trip. That is, instead of eating nutritious meals at home, the poor often succumb to snacks like Cinnabons or expensive Starbucks drinks. Why? Maybe the poor experience more decision fatigue when shopping and seek relief by getting something tasty to eat or drink. Isn’t this a reason to put those impulse buying options right by the cash register?

But what about the richer people when they think about purchasing big-ticket items and especially making investment decisions? These people can be either maximizers or satisficers. If they are maximizers, they are vulnerable to decision fatigue. Satisficers, on the other hand, might skip the due diligence needed for really big decisions. Here again, when it comes to something really big, set up your decision criteria, set a time limit on your decision making, and use good self-control.

What’s this about self-control?  Well, it involves the basics, really. Get enough sleep at night. Eat regularly throughout the day. Pace yourself–manage your decisions so you feel fresh when making them. Don’t undertake too much at one time. This helps restore willpower and improve self-control, as well as the quality of decisions. People with good nutrition resist irrational bias when making choices, and when asked to make financial decisions, they are more likely to choose the better long-term strategy instead of going for the quick payoff.

One expert in the field asserts that the reality is that good decision making is something that fluctuates. However, the people with the best self-control–and who are less like to put something off till tomorrow when they shouldn’t–are the ones who structure their lives so as to conserve willpower. They don’t schedule endless back-to-back meetings. They avoid fast food temptations, and they establish habits that eliminate the mental effort of making choices. And, they probably have exercise scheduled on their calendars.