A state of over-thinking that prevents a decision from being made, typically caused by an overwhelming number of options, fear of choosing wrong, or the perceived irreversibility of the choice. Herbert Simon observed that decision-makers facing unlimited analysis run into diminishing returns — each additional hour of deliberation yields less new insight while the cost of delay compounds.
The cure is not less thinking but better-structured thinking: a defined decision rule, a deadline, and a willingness to act on a sufficiently good answer rather than wait for a perfect one.