How Long Should You Spend Making Decisions? Reddit Users Weigh In

The Decision-Making Dilemma Every Entrepreneur Faces

You’re staring at your laptop at 2 AM, paralyzed by a business decision that should have taken 10 minutes. Sound familiar? If you’ve ever wondered how long to make decisions - or more importantly, how long is too long - you’re not alone. Thousands of entrepreneurs on Reddit share this exact struggle daily.

The reality is that decision-making speed can make or break your startup. Spend too little time, and you might rush into costly mistakes. Spend too much time, and you’ll fall victim to analysis paralysis while your competitors race ahead. So how do successful founders strike the right balance?

In this guide, we’ll explore insights from real Reddit discussions, proven decision-making frameworks, and practical strategies to help you optimize your decision-making timeline without sacrificing quality.

What Reddit Users Say About Decision-Making Time

Reddit communities like r/Entrepreneur, r/startups, and r/smallbusiness are goldmines of real-world wisdom. When it comes to how long to make decisions, the consensus reveals some fascinating patterns:

The 10-10-10 Rule from Real Founders

One highly upvoted thread on r/Entrepreneur introduced the 10-10-10 framework: Will this decision matter in 10 minutes? 10 months? 10 years? Founders who adopt this approach report spending:

• 10-minute decisions: Operational choices like email responses, minor tool selections, daily scheduling
• 10-month decisions: Hiring employees, choosing marketing channels, product features (allocated 2-7 days)
• 10-year decisions: Co-founder selection, pivoting the business model, major investments (allocated 2-4 weeks)

The “Reversible vs. Irreversible” Mental Model

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos famously categorizes decisions into Type 1 (irreversible, one-way doors) and Type 2 (reversible, two-way doors). Reddit entrepreneurs have embraced this framework with their own twist:

Type 2 decisions (reversible): These should take minutes to hours. Can you undo it if it doesn’t work? Then decide quickly and iterate.

Type 1 decisions (irreversible): These warrant days to weeks. Hiring co-founders, signing long-term leases, or choosing your tech stack require deeper analysis.

A popular comment from r/startups summed it up: “I spent three weeks choosing my business partner and three minutes choosing my project management tool. Six months later, my PM tool has changed twice, but my partner is still my best decision.”

The Real Cost of Slow Decision-Making

Analysis paralysis isn’t just a productivity buzzword - it has tangible consequences. Reddit threads are filled with cautionary tales:

Opportunity Cost Stories from Reddit

In r/smallbusiness, one founder shared how spending three months debating between two CRM systems meant missing a crucial integration window with a major client. The delay cost them a $50K contract. Their advice? “Perfect is the enemy of good. I should have picked one in a week and optimized as I learned.”

The Confidence Drain

Multiple Reddit discussions highlight how prolonged decision-making erodes confidence. When you spend weeks on minor decisions, you signal to your team (and yourself) that you don’t trust your judgment. This creates a vicious cycle where future decisions take even longer.

Competitive Disadvantage

In fast-moving markets, speed matters. A viral thread on r/Entrepreneur featured founders who lost first-mover advantage because they spent months “researching” while competitors shipped imperfect products and gained traction. The lesson? Done beats perfect when timing is critical.

Proven Frameworks to Optimize Decision Time

Based on both Reddit wisdom and established research, here are actionable frameworks to help you determine how long to make decisions:

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix for Time Allocation

Adapt the classic urgent-important matrix for decision-making speed:

• Urgent + Important: Decide within hours (server down, critical bug, customer emergency)
• Important + Not Urgent: Allocate 2-7 days (hiring, partnerships, product roadmap)
• Urgent + Not Important: Delegate or decide in minutes (scheduling meetings, minor vendor choices)
• Not Urgent + Not Important: Defer or eliminate entirely

The 70% Rule from Colin Powell

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s decision-making rule has found a home among Reddit entrepreneurs: Act when you have between 40-70% of the information you wish you had.

Below 40%? You’re guessing. Above 70%? You’re overthinking and likely too late. This sweet spot typically translates to:

• Small decisions: 1-2 hours of research
• Medium decisions: 1-3 days of investigation
• Major decisions: 1-2 weeks of analysis

Time-Boxing Your Decision Process

Reddit users repeatedly recommend setting strict deadlines for decisions. Here’s a practical approach:

1. Day 1: Define the decision and criteria for success
2. Days 2-3: Gather information (no more than 3 sources)
3. Day 4: List pros/cons for each option
4. Day 5: Make the decision and commit

For smaller decisions, compress this into hours instead of days.

The Red Flags: When You’re Taking Too Long

How do you know if you’re spending too much time on a decision? Reddit entrepreneurs identify these warning signs:

The Research Rabbit Hole

If you’re reading the 15th article comparing the same two options, you’re procrastinating, not researching. One r/Entrepreneur member confessed: “I read 40 reviews for a $20/month email tool. That’s 6 hours of my time worth $300. I could have tried both platforms in that time.”

Decision Loops

Revisiting the same decision multiple times with the same information signals analysis paralysis. Set a “last look” deadline and honor it.

Seeking Endless External Validation

Posting the same question across multiple Reddit communities or constantly asking your network “what would you do?” often indicates fear rather than genuine information gathering.

Using Real User Pain Points to Validate Decisions Faster

One of the biggest time-wasters in entrepreneurial decision-making is choosing what to build or which problem to solve. This is where analyzing real discussions becomes invaluable - and it’s exactly what PainOnSocial was designed to accelerate.

Instead of spending weeks manually scrolling through Reddit threads to validate your product idea or identify market opportunities, PainOnSocial analyzes thousands of real conversations across 30+ curated subreddit communities. It surfaces the most frequent and intense pain points people are actually discussing, complete with evidence like real quotes, upvote counts, and permalinks.

For product decisions specifically, this means you can reduce your validation timeline from weeks to hours. Rather than debating whether users actually need a feature, you can see direct evidence of how frequently the problem appears and how intensely people feel about it. This data-driven approach helps you confidently allocate your decision-making time where it truly matters - on execution rather than endless validation research.

Speed vs. Quality: Finding Your Balance

The goal isn’t always to decide faster - it’s to decide at the right speed for the specific situation. Here’s how to calibrate:

High Stakes + High Uncertainty = More Time

Decisions with significant financial impact or long-term consequences deserve proportional time investment. Hiring your first employee? Take two weeks. Choosing notification sound? Take two minutes.

Build Your Decision-Making Muscle

Like any skill, decision-making improves with practice. Start with low-stakes decisions and gradually increase the speed at which you make them. Track outcomes to build confidence in your judgment.

Create Decision Rules in Advance

Popular on Reddit: Create “if-then” rules for recurring decisions. For example: “If a tool costs less than $50/month and has a free trial, I’ll decide within 24 hours.” This eliminates decision fatigue for routine choices.

Common Decision-Making Mistakes to Avoid

Reddit threads reveal these frequent pitfalls:

Sunk Cost Fallacy

Spending more time on a decision because you’ve already spent time on it is circular logic. Cut your losses and decide based on current information, not past investment.

Mistaking Motion for Progress

Creating spreadsheets, comparison charts, and elaborate frameworks can feel productive but often delays the actual decision. Set a maximum “preparation time” before you must choose.

Waiting for Perfect Information

Perfect information doesn’t exist in entrepreneurship. If you’re waiting for certainty, you’ll wait forever. Embrace calculated risks.

Practical Action Plan: Implementing Better Decision Timing

Ready to optimize how long you spend making decisions? Follow this week-by-week plan:

Week 1: Audit Your Current Process

Track every decision you make for one week. Note how long each took and categorize them by importance and reversibility. Identify patterns in where you’re spending too much or too little time.

Week 2: Implement Time Limits

Based on your audit, assign maximum time limits to different decision categories. Use timers to enforce these limits.

Week 3: Practice the 70% Rule

For each decision, explicitly ask: “Do I have 70% of the information I need?” If yes, decide. Track outcomes to build confidence.

Week 4: Reflect and Adjust

Review your decisions from the past three weeks. Which quick decisions worked? Which needed more time? Refine your frameworks based on actual results.

Conclusion: Your Decision-Making Edge

The question “how long to make decisions” doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all answer, but the frameworks and insights from Reddit communities provide a solid foundation. The key takeaways?

• Match decision time to decision importance and reversibility
• Aim for the 40-70% information sweet spot
• Avoid analysis paralysis by setting strict time limits
• Build decision-making confidence through practice and tracking
• Use data and real user feedback to validate faster

Remember, every hour you spend overthinking a minor decision is an hour you’re not spending building your business. Start implementing these frameworks today, and you’ll find yourself making better decisions in less time - giving you the competitive edge every entrepreneur needs.

What decision have you been putting off? Set a deadline right now, gather your 70% of information, and commit to choosing by that deadline. Your future self will thank you.