Here Are The Common Pitfalls That Cause Us To Make Poor Choices
Written by Michelle Ong | November 23, 2024 | Growth
Do you struggle with making choices or often feel regret right after deciding? Let’s explore the common pitfalls in decision-making and see how they can lead us towards poor choices.
Decision-making is an inescapable part of life, influencing everything from our daily routines to our long-term goals. Even when it feels like there’s only one way forward, there are always options: you can keep going, turn back, or just stay where you are.
Each choice we make shapes our experiences and paths we take in life, creating a ripple effect that influences our future decisions. This cycle highlights the importance of being mindful and intentional when making choices.
It is thus crucial to understand the factors that can influence our choices. In this post, we will explore 10 pitfalls that can impact how we make decisions.
1. What Do You Really Want?
During this time of the year, travel is on everyone’s mind. This got me thinking—imagine visiting a foreign country; do you prefer going for a package tour from a travel agency, or do you love planning every detail yourself? Do you feel more comfortable with everything arranged, or do you enjoy mapping out each stop on your own?
Knowing what kind of traveler you are says a lot about how you make decisions. If you are someone who doesn’t have strong preferences or isn’t eager to spend time planning, a package tour might be a perfect fit. But if you love diving into details, self-planning could be more fulfilling.
The same goes for life choices: when we know what we truly want, we can set clear priorities and make decisions that align with our goals. This self-awareness leads to choices we are genuinely happy with—ones that reflect who we are and what we value.
You may have heard of ikigai—the concept of finding purpose through things or actions that bring meaning to life. Understanding what truly drives you can be a powerful tool in making decisions. If you are interested in exploring this further, check out this post for more insights.
2. The Ticking Clock
In today’s tech-driven world, online shopping has become second nature. And most of us are familiar with the ticking clocks and limited-time offers we see on websites.
So, imagine spotting a limited-time offer for something that’s more of a “nice-to-have” than a necessity. That countdown timer—the fear of missing out—nudges you to make a quick decision, and more often than not, we go for it. This taps into our scarcity mindset, where the fear of not getting something can feel worse than the excitement of having it.
Our brains naturally default to easy, quick choices and are wired to avoid loss—especially when time is ticking. Under pressure, this response intensifies, making us more likely to act on impulse simply to avoid the regret of missing out.
3. Are You Self-Disciplined?
In a famous study on self-control behavior in children, researchers from Harvard University gave the young participants a choice: they could eat one marshmallow right away or wait 15 minutes without eating it and receive a second marshmallow as a reward for their patience.
The researchers later followed these children into adulthood and found that those who could resist the temptation often experienced greater success in life, suggesting that the ability to delay gratification is linked to important life outcomes.
Having self-discipline allows us to weigh our options and consider the long-term benefits rather than just quick satisfaction. This thoughtful approach is crucial for making choices that truly serve our goals and well-being.
Self-control is a skill that you can build over time with practice. Although it’s challenging in today’s world of instant gratification, it’s definitely possible to strengthen it. If you are interested in ways to improve your self-discipline, check out this post to learn more.
4. Overthinking
As the well-known saying goes: “Strive for progress, not perfection.” Some of us tend to overthink and worry about how others perceive us, often fearing that making the wrong choice will create a negative impression of our abilities.
This pursuit of perfection can distract us from the bigger picture, leading us to overlook important details and make poor decisions. When we are fixated on being perfect and flawless, it’s easy to start second-guessing ourselves and have impossibly high expectations of others.
For instance, if a colleague misses a deadline, instead of pausing to consider that they might be overwhelmed or struggling with their own challenges, we might quickly jump to conclusions about their work ethic.
This not only affects how we perceive others but also puts unnecessary pressure on ourselves, which in turn affects our choices and actions. When we delve into this self-sabotage behavior, we will find that it often stems from a fear of failure and a strong desire for success.
Overthinking can also push us to the opposite extreme—where we just sit back, take no action, and let life steer us wherever it wants. Instead of taking a chance, we let the fear of things going wrong stop us, so we stay passive rather than being bold and giving it a try.
Recognizing when our desire for perfection holds us back is essential, as it allows us to take action despite our worries and avoid poor choices based on unfounded fears and assumptions.
You might want to check out this post to discover other common bad habits you may unknowingly have that can sabotage yourself and path in life.
5. Personal Biases
What seems like an easy choice for someone can feel really tough for someone else. This is often due to personal biases formed by our beliefs and values from childhood and other life experiences. These biases shape how we see situations, influencing our ideas of right and wrong and how things should be done.
We usually aim to make choices that we believe will lead to good outcomes, but sometimes we miss important information or overlook other possibilities due to our blind spots. As a result, the outcomes might not match our expectations, leading to disappointment. Recognizing these biases can help us make better, more informed decisions.
6. Pursuit Of More
“Contentment is the greatest wealth. Greed is the greatest poverty.” – Buddha
Greed and vanity are anything but harmless vices. They are often fueled by the feeling of missing out and the pressure to keep up with the constant stream of social media feeds we scroll through daily.
This can lead us to chase after every shiny object, causing us to make poor choices and neglect what truly matters. When we try to pursue too many good-to-have options, we can feel overwhelmed, leading to exhaustion and burnout.
Studies show that we make better decisions when we have fewer choices, so it’s important to simplify our options. If you’re curious about this struggle and want to understand why the desire for more might not be what we truly need, check out this post where I unpack the pitfalls of wanting more.
7. Are You A Control-Freak?
Unexpected events can happen beyond our control. For some of us, this uncertainty can feel overwhelming, creating a cloud of self-doubt. The urge to know what’s coming next and to feel in control can be incredibly strong, making it tough to face the unknown.
But life is rarely certain, and our discomfort with uncertainty and change often leads us to cling to what’s familiar. This tendency can limit our thinking and hamper our decision-making.
If you find yourself leaning towards a more conservative mindset, try to loosen up a bit! Opening yourself up to new perspectives can help you discover ideas and opportunities you might not have considered before.
8. Can You Rein In Your Emotions?
At our core, humans are emotional beings, though we all experience emotions differently. When we lean too heavily on our feelings without balancing them with logic, we can make choices that don’t always make sense.
Stress and low motivation can make it even harder to manage our emotions, pushing us towards poor decisions. When we feel overwhelmed, it’s easy to let our feelings take the lead, which can lead us to regret later on.
Finding a way to balance our emotions with rational thinking is essential for making better choices, especially when life gets tough.
If you struggle to manage your emotions, check out this post for strategies to improve your ability to keep your emotions in check.
9. The Poison Of Regret
You have probably heard of the saying, “Hindsight is 20/20.” Some of us fall into the trap of regret after making a choice, especially if it leads to disappointing results. We might think, “If only I had chosen differently, things would be better.”
Sometimes, even when our choice turned out well, we hear about someone who picked the alternative and had an even better outcome. And this can spark feelings of regret.
This habit of comparing ourselves to others influences our mindset, causing us to make choices just to avoid doing worse off. Unfortunately, this often leads to poor decisions because we are basing our choices on a flawed reference point.
10. Gray Areas
In a world where things aren’t always black and white, and many situations fall into a gray area, making choices can be tough.
Take moral dilemmas or irresistible incentives, for example—sometimes we face decisions where our own benefits clash with doing the right thing. These tricky situations can make it hard to know what to do, and that’s where we need to think carefully and weigh our options.
Final Thoughts
“You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequence of your choice.” – Zig Ziglar
Life is a series of choices and what you choose shapes your path. Thus, being mindful of your choices can help you avoid undesirable consequences.
Looking at the list of common pitfalls above, which ones resonate with you? Learn to recognize them and keep them in mind when making decisions in the future!
“Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.” – Nikki Giovanni
Making good choices is important, but we all make mistakes sometimes—that’s just part of being human! Instead of beating yourself up, see them as a chance to improve. Learn from your missteps and use them as opportunities to grow.
I hope you found this article helpful! If you did, please pin and share it with your family and friends so they can benefit from it too.
