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Jay Shetty PodcastJay Shetty Podcast

Give Me 23 Minutes and Never Struggle With a Decision Again

Do you find it hard to decide? What usually makes it hard for you? Today, Jay dives into two of the biggest roadblocks that keep us from living the life we want: overthinking and procrastination. If you’ve ever found yourself stuck on a decision for weeks, second-guessing every choice, or waiting for the “perfect” moment to act, you’re not alone. Jay reminds us that chasing absolute certainty, readiness, or approval often leaves us standing still. The reality is, confidence comes from taking action, not the other way around, and real transformation rarely feels comfortable. Jay breaks down the seven steps to making smarter, faster, and more aligned decisions. You’ll learn to protect your mental energy by reducing decision fatigue, sort decisions so you stop treating small choices like life-or-death moments, and learn to trust your emotions before engaging logic. Jay introduces practical tools like the 10/10/10 game to shift your focus from short-term impulses to long-term clarity, regret simulations that guide you to choose integrity over fear, and identity questions that align your decisions with the person you want to become. Above all, Jay shows that the quickest way to reduce anxiety is not certainty, but action. In this episode, you’ll learn: How to Clear the Mental Clutter to Make Better Decisions How to Tell the Difference Between Big & Small Decisions How to Trust Your First Instinct Without Regret How to Stop Letting Fear Make Your Choices How to Stop Hesitating and Start Moving Forward No matter what decision is weighing on you right now, remember this: indecision is still a decision, and staying stuck costs more than trying and getting it wrong. Take the next step, not when you’re ready, but so you can be ready. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty Join over 750,000 people to receive my most transformative wisdom directly in your inbox every single week with my free newsletter. Subscribe here. What We Discuss: 00:00 Introduction 01:13 Stop Overthinking, Catch The Noise! 03:38 How Often Do You Make Decisions? 06:08 Tip: Make Big Decisions Early In The Day 07:23 Label Decisions Based On Importance 13:32 Feel First Then Think 16:20 Label Your Emotions & Decide With Clarity 17:54 10-10-10 Rule 18:57 Regret Simulation 20:27 The 3 Identity Questions 21:50 Decide Then Move Forward Episode Resources: https://www.instagram.com/jayshetty https://www.facebook.com/jayshetty/ https://x.com/jayshetty https://www.linkedin.com/in/shettyjay/ https://www.youtube.com/@JayShettyPodcast http://jayshetty.me

Jay Shettyhost
Sep 11, 202523mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Seven-step framework to beat overthinking and decide with clarity

  1. Decision quality drops when your mind is cluttered, so the first step is noticing and reducing “noise” that fuels rumination and decision fatigue.
  2. Protect your cognitive energy by making big decisions early and batching or automating low-impact choices to avoid ego depletion and impulsive defaults.
  3. Use the Type 1 vs. Type 2 framework (irreversible/high-stakes vs. reversible/low-stakes) to match decision speed and depth to the true risk.
  4. Because decisions are often emotionally driven and logically justified later, Shetty recommends identifying the emotion first, then applying reasoning with more clarity.
  5. Tools like the 10/10/10 rule, regret simulation, identity-based questions, and immediate action help you zoom out, choose with integrity, and reduce anxiety from uncertainty.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

You likely have a clutter problem, not a clarity problem.

Over-deliberation drains mental energy and can lower decision quality; catching the “noise” (spiraling, crowd-sourcing, rumination) is the first lever to pull.

Decision fatigue makes you avoidant or impulsive, not “lazy.”

As you burn through mental energy on repeated choices, your brain defaults to doing nothing or choosing what’s easiest/familiar—so the fix is managing decisions, not shaming willpower.

Make high-impact decisions early; batch the rest.

Prioritize key choices when your mind is freshest, and pre-decide routine items (meals, outfits, routes) using simple rules like “If X, then Y” to preserve cognitive bandwidth.

Classify decisions before you try to solve them.

Type 1 (irreversible/high-stakes) deserves depth and time; Type 2 (reversible/low-stakes) should be made quickly, often with testing, so you don’t treat everything like life-or-death.

Stop waiting for 90% certainty—70% is often enough to move.

Perfectionism slows action and momentum; aiming for “good enough” (satisficing) helps you start, learn, and adjust—especially on reversible decisions.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Stop waiting till you're perfect, just start. Stop waiting to feel certain, progress builds confidence. Stop waiting till you feel ready, confidence comes after, not before.

— Jay Shetty

You don't have a clarity problem, you have a clutter problem.

— Jay Shetty

We are not thinking machines that feel, we are feeling machines that think.

— Jay Shetty

Don't ignore your intuition. Stop mistrusting your first reaction because it's often your deepest wisdom. Stop calling it overthinking when it's actually your soul saying no.

— Jay Shetty

Action reduces anxiety, not certainty.

— Jay Shetty

Decision fatigue and cognitive clutterBatching/automating micro-decisionsBig decisions early in the dayType 1 vs. Type 2 decisions (Bezos framework)70% information / satisficing vs perfectionismEmotion-led decision-making (Damasio)10/10/10 rule, regret simulation, identity alignment, rapid action

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