Have you been in situations where the pressure is on to make a decision? The brief is due, the offer is on the table, or the client is waiting for a response. Instead of being decisive, you turn the options over (and over) in your mind. In an attempt to analyze every possible choice, risk, and outcome, you end up stuck in an endless loop of overanalyzing. The dreaded “analysis paralysis” has taken hold.
What is Analysis Paralysis?
“Analysis Paralysis” occurs when you overthink something to the point of avoiding a choice or action. Rather than being confident and clear, you feel confused and unsure as you weigh every possible angle. When this happens, you fixate on finding an ideal (risk-free) decision rather than moving forward. You may also procrastinate by diverting your attention to something less pressing or falling into a research “rabbit hole.” All the while, your mind and body are stressed with tension, loss of sleep, irritability, and/or preoccupation with failure.
Analysis paralysis is one of the most frequent challenges I encounter in my work with attorneys and law firms. It is common in litigation, legal writing, and case strategy, where making the wrong choice can have costly and negative outcomes. It may also show up when considering a job change, a career transition, or a retirement plan. Paralysis by analysis also arises among groups of decision makers. For example, law partners drafting the firm’s succession plan end up in a stalemate; a Bar goes in circles revising ethical rules; a legislative bill gets stuck in committee.
Personal life decisions are impacted by analysis paralysis as well. Have you ever spent hours researching the best [fill in the blank] you want to buy—reading endless reviews, comparing specs—but never actually making a purchase due to fear of making the wrong choice? Me too. Analysis paralysis can also impact larger life decisions where there’s a lot at stake, such as staying in or leaving a relationship or buying and selling a home.
Why is Analysis Paralysis So Prevalent Among Attorneys and Judges?
In a profession that demands precision and sound judgment, overthinking can masquerade as due diligence, precision, thoroughness, and risk assessment. We may even be praised for overthinking and overefforting, when internally we are suffering from the angst that analysis paralysis creates. Lawyers and judges are particularly vulnerable to overanalysis in the pursuit of making the “right” decision with the fewest negative consequences. As lawyers, we are hired to prevent loss and circumnavigate harm for our clients; judges are responsible for making impeccably fair rulings.
However, it is often not possible to prevent all loss and avoid all harm. While there may be pressure for a lawyer to craft a flawless argument or for a judge to write the perfect decision, every argument can be countered and every ruling scrutinized. The consequences of “failing” in our efforts present a high emotional, professional, and social price tag—from public humiliation to disbarment. We are left with mental quandaries that have no easy solutions: prime breeding ground for analysis paralysis.
Analysis Paralysis in These Times
You may currently feel more susceptible to analysis paralysis due to recent political changes. Regardless of whether you interpret the shifts as positive or negative, the speed at which change is occurring—in addition to the uncertainty and lack of control over the rate and kinds of change—can exacerbate analysis paralysis. Some of the changes are placing unprecedented pressure on our legal community. In witnessing these pressures, you may be grappling with your own moral choices or witnessing colleagues and leaders contending with historic ethical dilemmas. Feeling hypervigilant and overwhelmed by complex, high-stakes issues is natural in unpredictable times—especially when no solution comes without consequences. Analysis paralysis often follows, as the problems we face may feel too polarizing to resolve without deep societal division.
What is Happening Psychologically When We Experience Analysis Paralysis?
The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, offers a framework for understanding analysis paralysis through the lens of internal conflict. In this model, different aspects of ourselves—called “parts”—emerge to help solve a problem, but they often have competing agendas. Each part holds distinct needs, concerns, and decision-making strategies. When these parts pull in opposite directions, we experience a mental gridlock known as analysis paralysis. IFS refers to this internal tug-of-war as a “polarity.”
For instance, there may be a polarity between a “Striver” part, which pushes for constant effort to avoid failure—often through long hours and relentless work—and an “Exhausted” part, which seeks rest to prevent burnout, sometimes resorting to oversleeping or withdrawal. These parts, each with distinct strategies and intentions, create internal gridlock when they pull in opposite directions. As the Striver and Exhausted parts negotiate how to spend a weekend before a major trial, they are likely in direct conflict. The Striver continually urges you to work while the Exhausted part copes by procrastinating or falling asleep. The result is a frustrating standstill—you sit at your desk, unable to focus and procrastinating while tension builds. At the end of the weekend, you feel neither productive nor restored.
Understanding Polarized Parts
The parts listed below are common parts that I encounter when using IFS to help clients (or myself) navigate a polarity:
The Ambitious Part – has a solution to the problem and is ready to charge forward with its plan. It is ready to act NOW but may not consider consequences.
The Perfectionist Part – wants the results to be perfect and risk-free to avoid criticism, regret, or being perceived as a failure. It fuels endless research and second-guessing.
The Fearful Part – is afraid of making the wrong choice, potentially leading to embarrassment, loss, or harm. It stalls action as a form of self-protection.
The Inner Critic – judges the other parts. It casts doubt on your abilities and your process.
What to Do When Your Parts are Polarized?
In IFS, the goal is not to suppress any of the parts in the polarity. Instead, the aim is to listen to each part with genuine curiosity to better understand its concern and the motivation for its strategy. I have been amazed, time and time again, how this process harmonizes all the parts in play; through dialogue with each of the parts, clarity emerges.
While the full IFS process is involved—and, in my experience, most effective when guided by a trained practitioner—what follows is a simplified version that you can try on your own the next time you notice analysis paralysis setting in.
Moving Through Analysis Paralysis Using a Five-Step IFS Approach
Step 1: Recognize You’re Stuck
Identify you are in an analysis paralysis state of mind as soon as you can. The earlier you notice, the easier it will be to make a change. You likely know your own cues; if not, look for things such as:
- Endless mental looping
- Physical tension and stiffness
- Shallow breathing or holding your breath
- Emotional overwhelm
- Avoidance behaviors
When you notice, pause. Say to yourself (aloud if you can, to get your own attention) something akin to “I feel stuck; I am in analysis paralysis; my parts are polarized.”
Step 2: Parse Out the Parts
Take a moment to get curious. Ask yourself: “Which parts of me are polarized?” Parse out each of the parts by giving it a label. After labeling, add what the part is saying. For example:
- Ambition –“I need to work harder to get this done. Failure is not an option. I’ll push through this and then I can relax.”
- Perfectionist – “This isn’t good enough. What if I missed something? There must be a better way to explain this point.”
- Fear – “If I do this wrong, I could harm my client, my career, or my reputation. It’s safer to wait and gather more information. What if I fail?”
- Inner Critic – “What’s wrong with me?! This shouldn’t be taking me so long! I don’t have what it takes to pull this off.”
Step 3: Get Curious then Ask Your Part a Clarifying Question
Approach each part with curiosity and a genuine interest in understanding its perspective and why it is using its strategy to try to solve the problem:
- Ambition, how do you think that driving me will help me in this situation?
- Perfectionist, how are you trying to protect me?
- Fear, what are you most concerned about happening here?
- Inner critic, how can I reassure you?
It may feel odd to talk to your parts in this way. That’s normal. If it is easier, you can write out the dialogue or ask someone you trust to read the questions aloud and listen to your answer.
Step 4: Reassure the Parts
Once you’ve identified their concerns, offer reassurance. For example:
- To Ambition: “Your drive has helped me accomplish so much, but right now I want to make sure you’re not overfunctioning. It’s okay to pause and rest—taking a break will help you think more clearly.”
- To the Perfectionist: “I appreciate your diligence, but this doesn't need to be perfect—just good enough. It’s safe to take a step forward, even if everything isn’t 100% certain.”
- To Fear: “It’s ok to feel concerned. I can handle mistakes if they happen. Even if things don’t go as planned, I’ve got this.”
- To the Inner Critic: “I understand that you don’t want me to fail, and I know you are trying to help. What would it be like to relax just a bit and see if I can find a new way to figure this out?”
Your parts often carry outdated fears from previous experiences or expectations. These fears could be from law school, past mistakes, or unreasonable expectations by parents or former mentors. By listening with curiosity and offering reassurance, these parts can shift into the present moment and become less entrenched. When they understand that each part is trying to help, an internal shift occurs, thus creating space for new ideas and solutions to emerge.
Step 5: Check for Clarity or Inspiration and Negotiate a Next Step
After acknowledging and reassuring your parts, check and see if you feel clear or inspired about a next step. If you are, then take it! If you’re still not sure, try negotiating with your parts so that you can commit to small steps to move forward.
For example, if you’re stuck on writing a brief, negotiate with:
- Ambition – to allow you a 20-minute exercise break
- Perfectionist – to permit you to draft a rough version without editing for 30 minutes
- Fear – to relax a little and enjoy the drafting process
- Inner Critic – to cheerlead you while you’re drafting the rough version (or at least to stop criticizing you while you’re writing)
Outcome: Greater Ease. Clarity. Internal Harmony
Navigating analysis paralysis with the IFS model isn’t about eliminating analysis or rushing to a decision. It’s about slowing down to recognize the internal parts of you that are pulling in different directions. These parts—shaped by years of high expectations, life experience, and professional responsibility—are not obstacles; they’re protectors, each trying to help in its own way. When you pause to listen to the protectors’ positive intentions with curiosity and respect, the mental paralysis relaxes. The parts then begin to collaborate rather than compete, making even the most complex decisions easier to make.
When you listen to your parts with curiosity and compassion—rather than frustration or resistance—you understand yourself better. Increased self-knowledge creates opportunities for internal harmony and clarity and for new creative possibilities to arise. When each of us learns to engage with our inner worlds as thoughtfully as we engage with the law, not only do we make better individual decisions, we also become more present and more effective advocates, leaders, and problem-solvers for ourselves, others, and our world.
Laura Mahr is a North Carolina and Oregon lawyer and the founder of Conscious Legal Minds LLC, providing well-being consulting, training, and resilience coaching for attorneys and law offices nationwide. Through the lens of neurobiology, Laura helps build strong leaders, happy lawyers, and effective teams. After bringing herself back from the brink of burnout with the tools she now teaches, Laura brings lived experience and compassion to thousands of lawyers, judges, and support staff each year in her writing, coaching, and CLE trainings. Her work is informed by 13 years of practice as a civil sexual assault attorney, 30 years as a teacher and student of mindfulness and yoga, and ten years studying neurobiology and neuropsychology with clinical pioneers. If you would like help working through your individual or team’s analysis paralysis, contact Laura through consciouslegalminds.com.
