I was supposed to choose a blog name. Instead, I accidentally created a small naming agency in my own head.
Every time I narrowed the list, I thought of another option I liked. Then another. Then a variation on the first one. Courtesy of ADHD, enthusiasm, curiosity, and the dangerous confidence that the next idea might be even better, the decision became harder instead of easier.
The problem was not that the options were bad. The problem was that too many of them were good.
When idea generation stops helping
There is a point in decision-making when additional possibilities stop increasing the quality of the outcome and start increasing the cognitive load required to choose.
Researchers call one version of this choice overload. A meta-analysis in the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that overload becomes more likely when choices are complex, the decision is difficult, preferences are uncertain, or the person is trying to minimize effort. The effect can show up as lower confidence, more regret, switching, or simply postponing the decision.
That does not mean “more choice is always bad.” It means the context matters.
Source: Chernev, Böckenholt & Goodman, Choice Overload: A Conceptual Review and Meta-Analysis.
The store aisle problem
I feel this every time I go into a store looking for one thing and discover forty versions of it.
Suddenly I am comparing features I did not know existed five minutes earlier. Is this material better? Is that color more practical? Am I going to regret not buying the other size? Why does purchasing a completely ordinary household object suddenly feel like a binding international treaty?
Then I choose one, take it home, use it, and something interesting happens: I stop thinking about the other thirty-nine.
The product becomes part of my life. The decision closes.
A useful question: What are the actual stakes?
When I finally stopped generating blog names, I asked myself a better set of questions:
- Is this decision reversible?
- What happens if I choose a very good option instead of the theoretically perfect one?
- Will more research meaningfully change the answer?
- What is the cost of waiting?
- Am I comparing genuinely different outcomes, or several versions of something I would probably be happy with?
That last question matters. Perfectionism often disguises itself as due diligence.
The leadership cost of keeping every option open
Leaders are rewarded for good judgment, but judgment requires closure. At some point a possibility has to become a decision, and a decision has to become action.
Keeping every option alive can feel safe because nothing has been ruled out. But indecision has a cost too: delayed launches, stalled teams, lost momentum, repeated meetings, and mental energy spent re-opening questions that were already good enough to close.
My new rule: decide at the level of the stakes
Not every decision deserves the same amount of cognitive investment.
A hiring decision, legal commitment, major capital expenditure, or irreversible public action deserves rigorous review. A blog name, headline, software preference, or color choice may deserve thought, but not a week-long hostage situation.
That is the discipline I had to use here.
And once I chose The Assignment Desk, I stopped mourning all the other names. The decision became real because I moved forward with it.
Sometimes the risk of not deciding is greater than the risk of choosing something very good instead of theoretically perfect.
A 2024 systematic review of 53 studies similarly found that too much choice can impair consumer decision-making depending on context: The “less is better” paradox and consumer behaviour.