So you know how it’s really cool when people are decisive? Like, when they make up their mind, do something, and then never look back? Meanwhile, you find that the choice between whole grain or white bread is overwhelming?

Decision making is hard when you’re trying to make thirty of them at once, as quickly as possible, and hating on yourself all the while. When you’re depressed, prioritizing becomes incredibly challenging because everything is weighing on you at the same time.

With decisions the goal is: take them one at a time, and take your time with each one. Yes, if it’s a matter of immediate survival, like escaping a burning building, take that one first, and take about 5 seconds. However, if you’ve got a bit more time on your hands, then think through the matter at hand, debate the pros and cons, and come to a reasoned conclusion. Then write it fucking down so you don’t forget that reasoning.

Because coming to the conclusion is only half the battle. The real fight starts right after the decision is made, when the self-doubt and what-ifs take hold. “What if that was the wrong choice? Why did I even do that in the first place? This other choice is a million times better, I should go do that. Man, I chose the wrong thing again, maybe I can still change it…” And so on and so forth.

The only thing different between a person who constantly changes their mind, and one who sticks with their original conviction, is whether a person does what they decided on. If you want to be decisive, then follow up on your decisions. Now, that requires dealing with the self-doubt, which can easily undermine all of your certainty. And then there’s that fear of regret, that you’ll make the wrong choice and never be able to fix it. If you want to avoid regret, you need to know why you’re making a decision, that way even if you doubt yourself in the future, you can trace back the logic.

So you can take your time coming up with that decision. And you can pay attention to the process of how you came to it. That way you can spend less time wondering why you made it later on. Have conviction before and you’ll have it after. Writing shit down doesn’t hurt either.