Steal This Trick From Jeff Bezos to Overcome Analysis Paralysis

Ernesto Gutierrez, MD
2 min readSep 10, 2022

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For 6 years, I wanted to start an online business.

But I was paralyzed by indecision. Should I start with a course, with an ebook, or with a newsletter? Should I build it on WordPress, on Kajabi, or something else? Should I do it myself or hire someone to do it?

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone.

There are two types of decisions.

Jeff Bezos thinks of decisions as doors.

Two-way doors are those in which you can turn around if you don’t like what’s on the other side. Think of a revolving door. As such, two-way decisions are reversible.

Sure, you may lose some time or money, but you can go back to where you were before.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, these decisions might be:

  • where to host your website
  • which social media platform to post in
  • which platform to use for email marketing
  • hiring a coach, a freelancer, or a VA to speed things up

Bezos says you should not think too much when making these decisions.

The time you waste deliberating, and the experience you cheat yourself out of is more valuable than making the “right” choice from the get-go.

One-way doors are the opposite.

One-way decisions are not reversible. You can’t go back to where you were before. These kinds of decisions must be made slowly, deliberately.

Again, in our case, these might be:

  • bringing in a partner
  • accepting investor capital
  • taking out a business loan
  • putting personal assets as collateral

These decisions require time to think about.

They also often require different points of view. This is why companies have a board of directors, and why CEOs hire coaches and consultants.

When indecision strikes, make sure you’re not using the one-way process for a two-way decision.

And if you still find yourself stuck, I can help. Reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn and let’s chat.

This post was first published at drernestomd.com

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Ernesto Gutierrez, MD

I help experts build businesses aligned with their true life goals • Physician - Retired at 38 • Full-Time Dad & Husband 🤟🏻