How to Beat Decision Overwhelm… Run Science Experiments!
A lot of individuals with ADHD struggle with Decision Overwhelm. The cause of Decision Overwhelm can vary. Sometimes you may be overanalyzing your options, other times second guessing yourself. Sometimes you may play out options so far down the line to the point of exhaustion, while other times you’re stuck feeling like you have to get it “right”.
Whatever the cause, I like to address the issue of Decision Overwhelm from the perspective of a Science Experiment.
The Beauty of Science Experiments
As we all remember from elementary school, Science Experiments work with a hypothesis (an idea or theory), that you test, then you analyze your findings and come to some conclusions. We all have a clear understanding that science experiments aren’t about “getting it right”, they are about learning. So when I propose the idea of running Science Experiments to my clients, it almost immediately begins to relieve some of the pressure and decision overwhelm. They don’t have to get it right the first time. They can just try.
“Science Experiments aren’t about ‘getting it right’, they are about learning”
For example, I had a client who wanted to start working out, but could not decide if it would be best to work out in the morning, in the evening, at lunch, only on the weekends, whenever they had time during their day…..you get the idea. So we decided to run a science experiment. The first test was working out in the mornings. My client had a goal of three mornings for the first week. She accomplished one of those workouts that week, but what she learned was infinitely more valuable. The first time she tried to get up and workout she snoozed her alarm until it was too late (which she acknowledged was a general issue in her life), so the next morning she put her alarm just far enough that she had to get out of bed to turn it off. Success! But then she scrambled around for so long looking for her workout clothes and her shoes and her water bottle that again she didn’t have enough time to work out. On her third attempt her alarm clock went off, she got up to turn it off, then walked out the door with her workout bag already put together.
“Thanks to our elementary school teachers there is an understanding that science doesn’t always get things right on the first try. I find a lot of my clients are far more willing to try, learn and adapt when I introduce the science experiment mindset of decision making.”
This client, and a lot of clients, confess to me that normally they would have given up after their first attempt. Getting over Decision Overwhelm is hard enough, facing “failure” is nearly intolerable. However, thanks to our elementary school teachers there is an understanding that science doesn’t always get things right on the first try. I find a lot of my clients are far more willing to make a decision in the spirit of an experiment, when they know the goal is to learn and adapt based on the results.
What’s even better about this process, in my opinion, is that my clients don’t just learn about what will work in that specific situation, they also learn bigger concepts about what works for them. For example, as I mentioned, the client mentioned above had a habit of sleeping through her alarm, but the desire to find a way to wake up early led her to try an experiment (moving her alarm clock) that she still uses to this day. She also saw how putting together her workout bag the night before made the morning a lot smoother and started implementing the habit of prepping her next day the night before.
Additionally, a lot of my clients learn to make more decisions and make them with a lot more ease once they get the hang of the science experiment philosophy. Once the pressure of “getting it right” is gone, it’s a lot easier to make decisions.
I encourage you to try out this approach yourself. Be specific about your science experiment. What exactly are you testing out? (Working out first thing in the morning….versus at lunch or afterwork or right before bed or only on the weekends or whenever you have a free 30 minutes). How long will your run this experiment for? (For my clients it’s usually the week between our sessions). Pay attention as your are running your experiment. What did you learn? Was it a total success? Partial success? Non-existent? Distastrous? Whatever happened you can learn from and use that knowledge to adjust and adapt your science experiment for better future success.
And, as always, please come back here and share your thoughts. I’d love to hear how your science experiment went!