Stop Overthinking Everything: Let AI Help You Make Decisions Faster

If your brain feels like it has 47 tabs open any time you need to make a decision in your small business, this episode is for you. Instead of spinning on “Is this the right offer?” or “Which platform should I choose?”, we’ll walk through a simple way to use AI as a calm thinking partner, not the boss.

You’ll learn which decisions AI can actually help with, how to use a reusable decision-making prompt for planning and authentic marketing, and a lightweight “decision log” workflow so you overthink less and move forward with more confidence.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Have you ever found yourself with way too many tabs open, not just on your computer, but in your brain? Should I change my offer? Is this the right price? Do I focus on YouTube or email? Is this even the right direction for my business? Maybe you go in circles. Maybe make a pros and cons list. Ask a friend, start a new notebook and still feel stuck the day ends and you've spent more energy thinking about the decision than actually moving forward.

If that sounds familiar, I want you to know nothing is wrong with you. You're not bad at business because you overthink. You're human and you care, but decision overwhelm does not have to be your normal. In this episode, we're going to change the way you think about decisions, and I'm going to show you how to use AI [00:01:00] as a calm thinking partner so you can move faster with more confidence without outsourcing your judgment or your values.

Welcome to AI Simplified the podcast for entrepreneurs, creators, and small business owners who want practical stress-free ways to use AI in their content and marketing. I'm Kristina Stubblefield, digital marketing strategist and creator of the Pre-Bake the Oven Method. Let's simplify AI so you can create faster, show up consistently, and feel confident in your content. By the end of our time together today, you'll have a clear picture of what decisions AI can help with and which ones it shouldn't. A simple, reusable decision making prompt you can use for planning, brainstorming, and business clarity. A [00:02:00] lightweight way to track your decisions so you can learn faster and overthink less.

This isn't about letting AI tell you what to do. This is about using AI to get out of your own head, see your options clearly, and move forward instead of just letting the wheels keep spinning.

So not very long ago, I worked with a business owner who had three different project ideas for the new year.

All of them were great. All of them could make money. She had been stuck for months. Every time she sat down to decide, she ended up reopening the same notes, rewriting the same list, and then walking away frustrated. We dropped her pre-baked info into chat. GPT laid out all three options, and in about 10 minutes she had a clear goal.

A ranked list of options with pros and cons. A simple way to test her [00:03:00] top choice in the next 30 days. Now, did AI magically know the right answer? No, but it helped her see her choices laid out in a way that finally made sense. She still made the decision. AI just helped her make it faster and with less mental drama.

That's the kind of support I want you to experience. In this January series, we've already talked about how to use AI to show up more consistently in 2026. How to build a visibility habit you can actually stick with this episode is about what happens behind the visibility, what to focus on, which projects to say yes to, how to plan your efforts, your content, and your time.

And just like with context, the quality of AI's help with decisions really [00:04:00] depends on your setup. If you haven't done my pre-bake the oven method yet, or if it's been a while, this is a great time to refresh it. So AI actually understands your business, your audience, and your voice before you ask it to help you with any type of decisions.

We are going to walk through three pieces today. Pick the right decisions for AI support so you're not asking it the wrong questions. Use a three-step decision conversation prompt that works for planning, brainstorming, and clarity. Create a tiny decision log habit so you learn from your choices and overthink less over time.

I dunno about you, but let's get started with step one. Pick the right decisions for AI to help with. One of the reasons people get disappointed with AI is [00:05:00] because they ask it the wrong kind of question. They ask it like, tell me exactly what to charge. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Just tell me which one is right.

I'm here to tell you that those questions are asking AI to be the boss. That's not its job. AI is best at helping you with clarity, understanding your goals, and what actually matters. Options seeing more than one way forward. Scenarios thinking through likely pros and cons. So instead of asking what should I do, you want to ask, help me think this through, here's how I like to break it down into three types of decisions AI is great for. The first is clarity decision. These are questions like, what am I actually trying to achieve this quarter? Who am I really trying [00:06:00] to reach with this offer? What's the main outcome I want my clients to get? Now, prompt examples you can use. You are my thinking partner. I run a blank type of business that serves blank audience.

I'm trying to decide on blank decision. Help me clarify my main goal in one sentence, and list three to five criteria that matter most for this decision. AI will help you put into words what's been swirling in your head. Now moving on to number two options, decisions. Ooh, these are questions like, should I focus on a membership, one-to-one services or a course this year?

What are some realistic ways I could repackage my existing services? So here's some prompt example. Based on my business and [00:07:00] audience, give me three to five realistic options for blank decision. For each option, give me a one sentence description. Now you're not committing yet. You're just seeing the landscape.

Now onto number three, next step decisions. These are questions like what's the first step to test this idea in the next 30 days? If I choose option A, what are the first three actions I should take next? So here's a prompt example. Assuming I choose blank option outline, the first three to five simple steps I could take in the next 30 days to move forward and test it.

This keeps your decisions grounded in action, not just theory. The key thing to remember, AI is excellent at helping you clarify, see options, and plan next steps. You are [00:08:00] still the one who decides what feels aligned and sustainable. Now I wanna take a quick pause if you're listening and thinking. Okay, Kristina, I hear you.

But my AI results still feel a little generic, not like me. That's almost always a setup issue. That is exactly why I created my free Pre-Bake the Oven Guide. So you can give a ChatGPT or whatever AI learning model you're using the right information about your business and your people before you ask it to help you with decisions.

It makes all of this so much easier. You can grab the link in the show notes. Alright, now let's get back at it because we're on to step two and that's use a three step decision conversation with AI. Now that you know what [00:09:00] kind of decisions AI is good at, let's turn that into a simple, reusable prompt you can use any time you feel stuck. I like to call this three step decision conversation and you're gonna see why anytime you're overthinking something, whether it be big or small, you can walk through these three questions with AI. What am I actually trying to achieve here? What realistic options do I have?

What are the likely pros and cons of each option in the next 90 days? Here's a prompt. You can literally copy and paste. You are my calm business thinking partner. I run blank business and you wanna describe your business serving blank audience, and there you would describe your audience. I'm trying to [00:10:00] decide blank, and you wanna describe the decision you're trying to make.

Step one, ask me three to five questions to clarify my goal and what matters most. Step two, based on my answers, suggest three to five realistic options. Step three for each option. List pros and cons specifically for the next 90 days at the end. Help me summarize which option seems most aligned with my goals and energy right now, but don't make the decision for me.

You'll notice a few things in that prompt. You're telling AI who you are and who you serve. You're asking it to ask you questions first instead of jumping to an answer. You're focusing on the first 90 days. That's the next 90 days, not the rest of your life. You're clearly saying, help me think. Don't [00:11:00] replace my judgment when you actually use this.

Here's what it might look like in practice. You put in your decision, should I focus my energy on improving my existing offer or creating a new one? AI ask follow up questions about your revenue, your capacity, and your audience needs. You answer honestly, AI outlines your options, pros and cons. You scan the summary and notice, oh, staying with my current offer actually supports my goals more than starting from scratch again. The clarity was probably already inside you, AI just helped make it visible. Now let's go on to step three. Start a simple decision log so you learn faster. And one of the sneaky reasons we overthink is because we don't always trust ourselves. We forget the [00:12:00] good decisions we've made. We forgot what worked. A decision log can be a powerful way to change that, and it does not need to be complicated. Here's all you need. A simple note on your phone. You can use a Google Doc or maybe just a Word doc. Each time you make a meaningful decision, you jot it down the date, the decision, why you chose it, what you're going to watch for in the next 30 to 90 days.

After you've gone through your three step decision conversation, you might say, summarize my decision in three to five bullet points, what I chose, why I chose it, and what I'm going to pay attention to over the next 90 days. Then copy that summary into your decision log. When you review the decision, this is important.

After some time has passed, you can come back and [00:13:00] say, here's a decision I made 60 to 90 days ago, and what happened? Help me pull out three lessons I can apply to future decisions. Now instead of feeling like every decision is brand new and high stakes, you're building a track record. When I choose simpler over fancier, it tends to work better.

When I try to launch three things at once, I burn out. When I listen to what my clients are actually asking for, things move faster over time. That builds trust in your own judgment, and AI becomes a tool that helps surface your wisdom, not replace it. I want to gently reframe something for you.

Overthinking doesn't mean you're broken. It usually means you care, you're smart, and you've been trying to carry all of this in your head by yourself. You're allowed to get support. [00:14:00] You're allowed to have a tool that helps you see your thoughts, your options, and your patterns more clearly. AI is not here to boss you around, judge your ideas or make perfect predictions.

It's here to sit beside you like a calm teammate and say, let's lay this out together so you can make the choice that feels right for you. You bring the experience, the heart, and the values. AI brings structure, options, and speed. Together, you can move forward with a lot more peace. If you're ready to make better, faster decisions with AI by your side.

Your next step is to grab the free Pre-Bake the Oven Guide in the show notes if you have not already. When your AI is properly pre-baked with your business details, these decision prompts become so much more accurate and [00:15:00] helpful. Okay, let's wrap up what all we talked about and I want to leave you with one simple action.

Think of one decision you've been overthinking. It doesn't matter if it's big or small. Open ChatGPT, paste in the three step decision, conversation prompt we talked through. Answer the questions honestly and see what opens up. You don't have to fix your whole business or your whole year today. You just have to move one decision out of your head and into a conversation where you can actually see it.

Remember, you're not behind. You're just unsupported. And tools like AI can change that. You are the expert in your business. AI is just here to help you get out of your own way and take the next right [00:16:00] step. Remember, done is better than perfect. Just take one decision you've been carrying around and let AI help you finally move it forward.

Thanks for listening to AI Simplified. If today's episode helped you feel more confident using AI in your business, hit follow and leave a five star review so you never miss what's next. Want to keep learning? Join our private Facebook group where we go deeper, share ideas, and simplify AI together.