Pocket Change: Stop Outsourcing Your Decisions & Why More Information Does NOT Equal More Clarity

Introducing Pocket Change: Quick, bite-sized episodes where small insights build big impact, just like the spare change jangling in your pocket. The ideas in these short, lightweight episodes might seem modest at first, but keep collecting them and before you know it, they compound into something truly invaluable.

In this episode of Pocket Change, I explore the essential shift from outsourcing your decisions to building deep, unshakable self-trust.

There's a subtle but powerful transition that underpins every big life change: moving away from polling others for advice and reclaiming your sovereignty over your own choices. You’ll learn why asking for too many opinions often clouds clarity instead of creating it—and what to do instead.

If you've ever felt paralyzed when facing a decision or wondered why you second-guess yourself even after gathering all the information, this episode is your permission slip to put your trust back where it belongs: in yourself.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

🌟 Why outsourcing your agency is a hidden form of self-doubt

🌟 The two big myths about decision-making that keep you stuck

🌟 How "more information" often leads to less clarity

🌟 Three simple steps to strengthen your decision-making muscle starting today

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Transcript

Welcome to Pocket Change, the quick bite-sized segment of the Change Ology podcast, where small insights build big impact, just like the spare change jangling in your pocket. The ideas in these short, lightweight episodes might seem modest at first, but keep collecting them and before you know it, they compound into something truly invaluable.

One of the most important transitions that underpins any big life change is moving away from a place of outsourcing your energy agency and decision making to cultivating a deep sense of self-trust. I also sometimes talk about it as the process of reclaiming your sovereignty over your own decisions.

So what do I mean by this? Outsourcing your agency with decision making is the process of. Seeking others' opinions before you make any kind of decision. Big or small can be anything from whether you should take that new job or where to go for dinner. Right? And then after you get their thoughts, you defer your own judgment to those opinions.

Well, I, you know, three of my friends said I, I shouldn't go for it, so I want, or three of my friends said I should go for it, even though I have my reservations. Right. This could look like polling friends for their thoughts or needing to have a quorum of support from a majority of your friends or family before you proceed with something.

And at the furthest end of this spectrum, you're basically asking for other people's permission before you make a move, rather than trusting yourself and what you think. You rely on the opinions of others. The biggest shift that you need to make when you're making a big ass life change is to reclaim your sovereignty.

Learn to trust yourself above anyone else. And I totally acknowledge that. That's way easier said than done. So why do we do this? Why do we have this tendency to outsource our agency like this? The first reason. Is that people, especially people socialize as women have been conditioned to assume that other people have more information, experience, insight, , about something than they do.

My insider tip here based on personal experience and my extensive work with clients, this is rarely true, rarely true. More often than not, those who constantly seek others' opinions know far more than the people they are soliciting for advice about their specific situation. There's a second sneaky reason that we all do this, and it's because we think that the more information we have, the better our decision ultimately will be.

And another insider tip here. This is hardly ever true. More information does not equal more clarity when it comes to decision making. In fact, the opposite is true, that the more information you have, the more possibilities you see. It becomes harder. So this is especially problematic if you believe that there is one right?

Correct answer or choice. And when it comes to big decisions or making a big change, there are many right answers, paths, ways forward. Focusing too much on the right answer will just drive you insane, and it will ultimately keep you from moving forward. So how do we begin to make that shift from outsourcing our agency with decision making to relying more on our own judgment?

My first tip is to realize that literally no one else on earth, literally including me, including your partner, including your best friend, knows what's best for you more than you do. No matter how close you are to someone you know yourself better. Tip number two, understand that there are many right paths and ways to move forward.

You do not have to find the one right way. You have to find your next best step for you. For right now, it's way too much pressure to put on yourself to find the perfect solution. So don't tip number three. Give yourself boundaries when it comes to data collection. So the research you do, asking others for their experiences and opinions, get it for a little while, and then stop More information does not equal more clarity, and it does not guarantee that your decision will be any easier or any better.

So give yourself two days or so to think about a bigger decision. Maybe a shorter amount of time for smaller decisions and for things like where to go or what to have for dinner, which trips me up all the time. That's why I bring it up. , don't think at all, just blurred something out. And if others in your family or in your dinner party don't want to have that for dinner, you just started a dialogue, right?

If they do, awesome, your decision is already made. So I hope this has been some good perspective and a little bit of guidance when it comes to moving away from outsourcing your agency with decisions and placing it back where it belongs with yourself. So that's it for me today on this episode of Pocket Change, and I'll see you in the next one.