This is the advice that I have to listen to frequently myself. I am a strong analytical thinker and so I like to have time to apply that skill, I like to have all the relevant facts. My challenge is not to try and gather too many facts, to spend too long analysing them, to spend too long reaching a decision. It is often a hard tightrope to cross. Here are my thoughts on walking it.
First of all, understand if and why you are procrastinating. If this is too big a task to take on just now – allocate a time to do so. Alternatively can the task be broken down into smaller parts? Can you allocate a defined period of time to at least start the task. Starting a task often makes it look more manageable. Breaking it into smaller parts also helps.
What information do you NEED to make a decision. Try to distinguish between what you need and what you would like, the two are seldom the same. Some information may be difficult or impossible to get. Your perception and acceptance of risk is going to have an effect here. Discussing the task with someone with a different risk profile from you may be helpful in reaching a conclusion as to what information is really required. I remember when advising my more entrepreneurial clients, they often required far less information than I would have been comfortable with if the commercial decision had been mine to make.
Do you need to make a decision at present, sometimes there may be very good reasons for not making a decision. It may not FEEL right. That probably means one of three things: there is information you are missing that you NEED, your instinct is telling you something different from the evidence or the risk/reward equation does not suit you.
What I am trying to encourage is to make a decision. Examine the issues, weigh up what you know, leave a route open if needed to re-examine the issue. I can guarantee that you will feel better in the long run making a decision, not pushing it under the carpet or kicking it down the road.
So examine and understand your motives and drivers. Find out any missing information. Test your instincts and conclusions with others. That exercise might not reach any different answer but you will be more informed and you will have a greater insight into why you are deciding the way you are. Part of that exercise may be painful, it may require you to look at things that are unfamiliar.
Contradictory views can be challenging, many people will just seek endorsement or confirmation of their existing conclusions, while that may be attractive, I do not think it will make for better decision making. So do not lead the witness, get the un-biased opinions of others. You may reach a different conclusion, you will definitely understand that decision better.