Can AI Chatbot Help with Major Life Changes?
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Have you ever struggled among multiple options? With the vast amount of information available online, making decisions can feel overwhelming. Whether it may be picking between outfits for a party or choosing the right manufacturer for your product, making important decisions are a normal part of our daily lives. Weighing your options among important decisions that you make can be time-consuming, let alone emotionally draining, and indecisiveness only adds to the uncertainty and pressure of these choices.
Indecisiveness is a trait that many of us have, whether it may be due to an anxious personality or even an astrological sign for some, it can get in the way of effectively navigating through choices in life. Hence, understanding our decision making process is paramount in understanding why we are indecisive, and help us in making better decisions more effectively in the future.
According to Gati, et al. (1996), indecisiveness is divided by the time difficulties that arise during decision making process.
diff stages diff factors
For example, you are choosing which company to apply to. You may be anxious about not having sufficient skill level to take the position you want. You may fear being rejected. After you start doing your research on your options, you may find information about your options vastly different from what you think. These thoughts are common during decision making. Although these thoughts are distracting, they it can shows the type of indecisions you are facing. The type of indecisions are divided into two groups:
Before the decision making process, you may fear making the wrong decision. For example, you may be afraid that choosing the wrong company to apply to which may not be suitable for you. This fear may hold you back from making a decision. Lack of readiness may also lead to procrastination, bringing more distress due to time pressure.
During the decision making process, you may realise that you may not have enough information about the options you are evaluating. You may find that the job description for the position you are considering lacks sufficient detail. Finding more details on the internet may also be difficult.
During the decision making process, you may find some inconsistent information about the options. For example, after realising you does not have sufficient information of your options, you ask your friends for advices. They may give you vastly different information about your options, making you more confused. These can bring distress to the decision making process.
We may all go through these thought process, be (but?) the degree of indecisions is unique to all of us. This may be caused by factors other than situational influences.
In the Big-Five model of personality factors, extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved) and neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident) are linked to tendencies towards indecisiveness (Fabio et al., 2013). Extraverted individuals may seek opinions from others, which can result in conflicting advice and increased uncertainty. Meanwhile, individuals high in neuroticism may overthink or ruminate on the potential outcomes of their decisions, contributing to indecisions.
Additionally, perfectionism can also play a significant role in indecisiveness as individuals strive for flawless outcomes and may spend excessive time evaluating different options.
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The effectiveness of decision making is closely tied to one's self-efficacy (Fabio et al., 2013).
rephrase: higher self-efficacy, more decisive
For example, when you are confident that your decision will be beneficial to your future career path, you experience reduced stress levels and are better equipped to evaluate your options rationally. Conversely, harbouring doubts about your decision making abilities can result in ineffective decision making processes, characterised by excessive time spent worrying about potential negative consequences and a lack of preparedness to make decisions.
Perceived social support may come from family, friends and significant others. When they are perceived as supportive, our confidence of making the right decision with their help may also increase. This way, they can facilitate the decision making process (Fabio et al., 2013). In the opposite, they can also be unsupportive towards the individual and lowering their career decision-making self-efficacy.
To counter indecisiveness, we can employ an effective decision-making process. One of them is Parsons’s (1909) trait-and-factor theory. This theory consists of 3 steps:
Lack of readiness can be conquered by the first step. Evaluating our abilities can rid us of unnecessary self-doubts, making our decision making process less emotionally draining. Recognising our strengths can also help with boosting our career decision-making self-efficacy. Sometimes, the people around us can also boost our confidence to urge us to make decisions.
Lack of information or receiving inconsistent information can be conquered by the second step. Evaluating our options by researching and obtaining more information can allow us to make decisions more rationally.
These steps may be difficult to acheive on our own. Seeking outside help may be more efficient for us to deal with indecisions. Career counselling can help us with these steps. During evaluation of our abilities, it is possible that we fall into the vicious cycle of rumination. Vocational psychologists can help us when we are unreasonably looking down on ourselves. Although these options may not be affordable for everyone, there are more affordable ways to tackle indecisions.
MindForest is an app that can guide us to facilitate our career decision making process. This app includes courses that can improve our mental health, AI guides with a large variety of features to support us in the journey of overcoming indecisiveness, and journals providing recommendations. MindForest can:
MindForest provides AI guides to assist users in overcoming procrastination by identifying the reason behind procrastination and breaking down decision making process into manageable steps for us to follow.
MindForest offers AI-guided assistance to help users gain insights into their personality and abilities, facilitating the selection of a suitable career path. Additionally, it provides guides to analyse the benefits of various options.
Third-person opinions are often crucial in decision-making. Expanding your interpersonal network within your field can be beneficial for evaluating information related to the options you are considering. MindForest offers AI-guided tools to help you establish networking goals, enabling you to take the first step in establishing your professional presence.
In conclusion, indecisions stems from self-doubt and confusion, often leading to procrastination and rumination during the decision making process. Factors such as low self-efficacy or inadequate support from our environment can contribute to this feeling. However, pushing ourselves to hastily make a decision may not always be the best approach. Taking time to reflect on ourselves and carefully consider our options can provide a more measured path forward in decision making. To navigate through indecisiveness, it is essential to gather the courage to self-assess and initiate the decision making process thoughtfully.
Fabio, A. D., Palazzeschi, L., Asulin-Peretz, L., & Gati, I. (2013). Career Indecision Versus Indecisiveness: Associations With Personality Traits and Emotional Intelligence. Journal of Career Assessment, 21(1), 42-56. https://doi-org.eproxy.lib.hku.hk/10.1177/1069072712454698
Gati I., Krausz M., Osipow S. H. (1996). A taxonomy of difficulties in career decision making. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 510–526. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.43.4.510
Parsons, F. (1909). Choosing a vocation. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin.Handbook of Vocational Psychology : Theory, Research, and Practice, edited by W. Bruce Walsh, et al., Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hkuhk/detail.action?docID=1209530.
