The Cost of Not Deciding The average person makes around 35,000 decisions a day. Most are noise: what to eat, what to click, when to reply. But for us in the market, a few carry real weight: the trades we take, the risks we avoid, the plays we pass on. Here’s the issue after thousands of small choices, decision fatigue sets in. The brain gets tired. And when it does, we default to habits, emotion, and short-term comfort. That’s when bad trades happen. Or worse, nothing happens at all. Indecision feels safe. But not deciding is a decision and it usually keeps you stuck. - You hold a loser because selling confirms the loss. - You skip a setup you know by the book because pulling the trigger feels uncomfortable. - You wait too long for confirmation and miss the move. Inaction has a cost. In life, it’s missed growth. In markets, it’s missing the few asymmetric bets that drive most of your PnL. Trading is a power law game a few big wins carry everything. If you hesitate when your edge shows up, that moment won’t come back. And here’s the irony: the sharper you are, the more likely you are to hesitate. You want more data. More confirmation. Cleaner timing. But edge only matters if you act. Perfection doesn’t compound. Decisions do. Best ways I’ve found to deal with it: - Cut low-value decisions. Automate and simplify. - Save your mental energy for high-conviction trades that matter and make a dent in your PnL. - When your edge appears, press it. Missed opportunity creates regret and regret fuels tilt, which leads to real mistakes. Success is rarely the result of constant motion. It’s the result of a few clear, high-leverage choices, executed without hesitation.