One of the things that interests me about waiting is how often it attaches itself to large decisions.
Whatever form it takes, the decision tends to appear in our minds as a single event.
Something substantial.
Something important.
Something we either do or don’t do.
Which sounds reasonable until you look more closely at how most meaningful change actually happens.
Because very little arrives all at once.
The Size Of The Decision
Part of the reason we stay stuck is that decisions quietly grow in our minds.
Not bigger in importance. Bigger in scope.
A decision that starts with a single action quietly expands until it contains everything that action might eventually lead to.
The conversation becomes the possible consequences of the conversation.
The application becomes the potential career change.
The first step becomes an entire future we haven’t lived yet.
It’s easy to see why hesitation follows.
We’re no longer looking at what needs to happen next.
We’re looking at everything that might happen afterwards.
The Assumption Hidden Inside Waiting
When people talk about moving forward, the conversation sounds bigger than it needs to be:
The questions themselves aren’t the problem.
It’s the way they’re framed.
They assume that progress begins with a complete answer.
That movement only becomes possible once we’ve worked out the entire route from where we are now to where we’d like to be.
I don’t think that’s how most of life works.
Most of the time we don’t receive the full plan.
We discover parts of it by moving.
The Difference Between A Direction And A Destination
One of the assumptions hiding underneath many decisions is that we need to know where we’re going before we begin.
That would make sense if every step committed us to a final outcome.
Most of the time it doesn’t.
Some actions create information rather than conclusions.
They tell us something we couldn’t have known while standing still.
Yet many of us behave as though the only choices available are complete certainty or no movement at all.
We rarely leave room for the possibility that the next step might simply be the next step.
It Makes Me Curious…..
….. about how many decisions remain difficult because we’re trying to solve them too early.
Trying to answer questions that can only be answered through experience.
Looking for certainty that sits on the other side of movement rather than before it.
Perhaps that’s why waiting can feel so frustrating.
Not because we’re incapable of moving forward.
Because we’re asking today’s version of ourselves to answer questions that belong further down the road.
Questions that may only become clear once we’ve taken the next step.
Your Next Step
The absence of perfect conditions does not prevent movement.
If there’s something you’ve been postponing, try asking yourself a different question.
Not: “What decision do I need to make?”
But: “What is the next step available to me today?”
The two questions sound similar.
The answers are often very different.
From Thinking to Doing helps you take one part of something unresolved, begin, and create movement before certainty arrives.
What’s Coming Next?
Next week we’ll explore another common assumption.
The belief that good decisions should eventually feel certain.
And what happens when certainty becomes the thing we’re searching for.
If You Take One Thing From This
You don’t always need to decide the destination before you can choose a direction.
People Also Ask
How do I stop waiting to make a decision?
Try focusing on the next step rather than the final outcome. Movement often creates clarity that thinking alone cannot provide.
What if I don’t know the right decision?
Many decisions become clearer through action and experience rather than through endless analysis beforehand.
Do I need confidence before I start?
Not necessarily. Confidence often develops through movement rather than arriving before it.
What’s the difference between a direction and a destination?
A destination is a fixed outcome. A direction is a path of movement that allows learning and adjustment along the way.
References
American Psychological Association (2025) Self-Efficacy: The Theory at the Heart of Human Agency. American Psychological Association.
Dogonchi, M, Mohammadzadeh, F and Moshki, M (2022) The Relationship Between Health Locus of Control and Health Behaviours: A Systematic Review. The Open Public Health Journal.
OECD (2023) Behavioural Science in Development Co-operation: The United Kingdom’s Approach. OECD.
