Whether it’s nobler in the mind to suffer the anxiety of impending deadlines or to take arms against a sea of distractions, procrastinate, and by doing so, delay them. Every student has asked themselves this question at least once, usually at 3 a.m. when you’re halfway through the fourth season of Bridgerton, but that’s besides the point. We all know the drill: the task ahead feels monumental, the pressure to make the perfect decision is overwhelming, and somehow, despite knowing you’ll regret it, you put it off anyway.

But why? Why do we procrastinate when we know we’ll pay for it later? It’s not laziness per se, it’s something far more psychological: the Paradox of Choice.

In a world where we’re constantly flooded with options, the more decisions we have to make, the harder it becomes to actually make one. You might think that having endless ways to approach a project would be freeing, but in reality, it’s a recipe for paralysis. As students, we’re bombarded with choices about how to structure our assignments, which research to dive into, and what methodology to use. Each option adds layers of complexity to what might otherwise be a simple task. This is where the Paradox of Choice comes in, and why you’re now knee-deep in ChatGPT, asking it to generate sources for you.

Let’s try to build a bridge for an engineering assignment. Sounds simple, right? Pick a material, get the dimensions, and calculate the stress. But, no. That would be too easy. Instead, I found myself faced with a seemingly endless list of choices. Steel or concrete? Pre-tensioned or post-tensioned? How many cross beams? What kind of foundation? Should I make it aesthetic? Should I make it practical? Should I make it both? It’s like standing in a buffet line with too many options, thinking, “I’ll just take a bit of everything,” only to realise you’ve piled so much on your plate that it’s physically impossible to eat it all

Each choice carries the weight of what if?

What if I pick the wrong material? What if my calculations are off? What if I get it wrong and have to redo everything? 

The fear of making the wrong decision becomes so overwhelming that instead of picking one path, you freeze. And there you are, staring at your computer screen, stuck in the mental loop of indecision, while the deadline slowly creeps closer.

This is exactly what Barry Schwartz was talking about with the Paradox of Choice. The more choices we have, the more we overthink and second-guess ourselves, which ultimately leads to inaction. Rather than feeling empowered by having options, we become bogged down by them. How often have you spent hours trying to choose the perfect topic for your essay, only to realise you’re now out of time and end up choosing whatever comes to mind at the last minute? That’s choice paralysis at its finest.

It’s like being handed 500 channels on a TV, only to end up watching nothing. Netflix calls it “choice fatigue” and, honestly, we can apply the same idea to academics. Faced with too many ways to approach a project or paper, the brain says, “You know what? Maybe now’s a good time to check Instagram for the hundredth time today.” That one quick scroll turns into an hour, and suddenly you’ve only got five minutes to finish your 10-page paper. But hey, at least you’ll have a perfect understanding of the latest meme trends, right?

But here’s the twist: the real trick to overcoming the Paradox of Choice is realizing that you don’t need to find the perfect approach to everything. Sometimes, it’s better to just pick a starting point and move forward, even if it’s not exactly what you had in mind. The key is to stop thinking about it and just begin. Aristotle himself would tell you that the path to success is not found in obsessing over every possible option but in making a decision and sticking with it. Perfection comes through action, not endless planning.

For example, back to that bridge project. Instead of wondering whether steel or concrete was the most efficient material, I just picked one—steel, let’s say—and started with the calculations. Guess what? Once I got going, the next steps were much clearer. It wasn’t perfect from the start, but it was progress. The idea that I had to make the perfect choice was the real issue. Once I made a decision and committed to it, I could refine it as I went, just like a rough draft of an essay. 

So, when you’re sitting at your desk, staring down your to-do list, remember: the more choices you have, the less likely you are to get anything done. Narrow your options. Pick one. And just start.

In the end, doing something, even if it’s not perfect, is always better than doing nothing. Procrastination thrives in the space between too many options and fear of making the wrong choice. So, next time you’re tempted to endlessly re-arrange your study materials or ponder the most "efficient" way to tackle a paper, just dive in. It’s not about choosing the perfect path, it’s about choosing a path and getting the work done. The clock is ticking, and it’s best to begin now, lest you become one with the procrastination spiral.

Parul Taya is a second-year Civil Engineering student at UNSW who enjoys writing about human connection, culture, and the quiet drama of everyday life.