Some questions to help you decide whether to buy something:
- How many cups of coffee is this worth? (If it’s less than five cups of coffee, it’s not a very big decision – you should probably go ahead. And don’t spend longer on choosing something worth the cost of a cup of coffee than you would on choosing coffee.)
- How far would you travel to solve this problem immediately? (If the thing in front of you probably solves the problem and costs less than the journey, buy it now, and definitely don’t spend more time on deciding than you would on the journey)
- How far extra will you have to travel to solve this problem another time, and how much will that cost?
- How big a deal is this if it’s the wrong thing?
- How much extra would I pay if I knew for sure it was the right thing?
- What other things could I do with the time I’m using to decide?
Do you need more information, or do you just need to decide?
Seth Godin