TL;DR: Feeling unproductive because you spend time deciding what to do instead of “doing the work”? Here’s the shift: decisions ARE work. By recognizing decision-making as legitimate productive work and scheduling separate time for it, you can eliminate frustration, boost your sense of progress, and actually get more done when it’s time to execute.
Have you ever sat down to work on a project – maybe writing a blog post, or building out the structure for your upcoming workshop, or putting something up on LinkedIn – and found yourself spending most of the time trying to figure out what, exactly, to do?
Does that feel like a waste to you?
I personally hate that feeling. It used to make me look back on my day and think I didn’t get much of anything actually done.
As I’ve been thinking about this for myself and talking about it with clients, something clicked for me. It’s a simple reframe that has helped me experience a greater sense of progress and get rid of that feeling.
It’s simply this: decisions ARE work.
Why Does Decision-Making Feel Unproductive?
It’s easy to think about decisions as the necessary precursor to “doing the work.” We rarely set aside separate time for decisions when it comes to our smaller projects, so it feels like the time we spend on decisions is actually stealing away time from doing something productive.
What’s funny about this is that we DO set aside time for decisions when it comes to big picture stuff. We take time to plan out our year, or our quarter, or our major offers. We just don’t want to dedicate real time to planning out the things we think we should be able to ‘just do.’
So we sit there, staring at a blank screen and a blinking cursor, and feel like we’re wasting time.
How Can Setting Aside Time for Decisions Improve Productivity?
Something that’s really helped me recently has been setting aside separate time for decisions. I don’t decide each week what I’m going to write on my blog for the week; I set aside time once a month to plan out my content for the whole month. When I sit down to write, the decision has already been made.
Every two months, when I plan out my major projects, I take time to make decisions about how I want to tackle them. A project like “rebuild my website” has way too many unmade decisions within it. WordPress or Squarespace? How many pages? How much of the old site will we keep? Are we changing our brand colors? I don’t have to make every decision, but I try to make as many as I can. Then when I sit down to spend an hour on my site copy, I can actually spend an hour writing.
What Makes Decision-Making Legitimate Work?
Decisions require creative energy, and it turns out that they deserve it. We can feel a lot better about using that energy when we expect it and make space for it.
When you acknowledge that decision-making is real work, you stop beating yourself up for the time it takes. You can budget for it, schedule it, and honor it as a crucial part of your creative process. This simple mindset shift transforms “wasted time” into recognized productive effort.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much time should I set aside for making decisions?
The amount of time depends on the complexity of your projects. For content planning, I recommend blocking out 1-2 hours monthly to decide on topics and themes. For larger projects like website rebuilds or course creation, consider dedicating a half-day or full-day planning session to work through the major decision points before you begin execution.
What’s the difference between decision time and execution time?
Decision time is when you determine what needs to be done, how it should be approached, and what choices you’ll make about direction, format, or strategy. Execution time is when you implement those decisions—the actual writing, building, designing, or creating. Separating these two phases prevents the mental friction of trying to decide and do simultaneously.
Should I make ALL decisions upfront or can I leave some for later?
You don’t need to make every single decision before starting. Focus on making the decisions that would otherwise interrupt your flow during execution. For a blog post, decide on the topic, angle, and key points upfront. You can still make word choice decisions while writing. The goal is to remove the decision-making that causes you to stare at a blank screen.
How do I know if I’m spending too much time on decisions versus execution?
If you find yourself in “analysis paralysis” or continuously revisiting the same decisions without moving forward, you may be over-planning. A good rule of thumb: if you’ve made enough decisions to start taking action without getting stuck, begin executing. You can always schedule another decision-making session if new questions arise.
What if I work better making decisions as I go?
Some people do thrive on spontaneity and in-the-moment decision-making. However, if you’re reading this because you feel frustrated or unproductive, that style may not be serving you. Try the batch decision-making approach for one month and see how it feels. You might discover that having some decisions pre-made actually gives you more freedom to be creative during execution.
