[curt.clifton]

Piggybacking on Jody's point, if I need more information to make a decision, then I'll turn the decision into a project with a next action like "Find 4 articles on National Parks within driving distance".

Also, sometimes I don't really need more information to make a decision. In fact, sometimes I find myself using information gathering as a way to procrastinate from making a decision. In that case, I have a variety of strategies:

• Just set a future start date on the task. That gives my subconscious some time to work on the idea, and I can trust that I won't lose the idea because it is in my trusted system.
• Move the item into my someday-maybe list. In that case, I'll change the wording to the affirmative. So instead of the task "Decide whether to become an architect", I'd have the someday-maybe item "Become an architect". That doesn't mean I'll do it—it is on my someday-maybe list after all, but shunting the item off to another list excuses me from making a decision on it now. (After all, if I'm not making a decision on it anyway, there must not be a pressing reason to make a decision on it.)
• Brainstorm reasons why I'm uncomfortable making a decision. This might surface the fact that I really do need more information. Or perhaps I need to have a conversation with someone else who will be affected by the decision. In that case, my brainstorming list provides some next actions for the project of making a decision.
• Just decide. This is the tearing-off-a-band-aid approach. I'll sometimes be stressing about a decision. Usually dealing with the consequences of a decision turns out to be less painful than all the agonizing I was doing about the decision. Another plus, I get the endorphin rush of checking off a task.

Hope that helps.