The 30-second rule: How KYZEN CEO Carl DeGiorgio avoids overthinking day-to-day decisions

Carl DeGiorgio, CEO and Co-Founder at iGaming company KYZEN, has said that he has developed a key tool to help him avoid overthinking, a habit that many business leaders struggle with, prompting them to miss out on several opportunities.

Overthinking is the act of diving deep into a topic, thought, or situation, potentially to an excessive amount. This may lead to unforeseen insights, yet it very often leads to the individual ending up stuck on details that are very often not that relevant to the situation.

This is an issue that proves to be a stumbling block for many business leaders, as engaging in overthinking tends to leave them with more questions than answers, hindering them from progress.

Taking to social media on Wednesday, Mr DeGiorgio remarked that for most of his adult life, he has struggled with being an overthinker.

“They say that overthinkers make the best strategists, but overthinking also limits and drains you,” he explained.

In the past, he used to find himself on numerous occasions during the day in what he called an “analysis paralysis” situation, where he’d have overthought an instance to the extent that he was unable to make a decision, as well as extremely tired.

In a bid to combat this, Mr DeGiorgio developed the “30-second rule,” whereby he put it upon himself to make most, not all, of his day-to-day decisions in under 30 seconds.

He explained that by knowing that a decision he makes is “80 per cent adequate,” such as whether to send an email, publish an article, or say yes or no to a decision, he is able to conserve his energy and turn to doing this by being comfortable with the fact he “doesn’t need to achieve perfection.”

“Yes, I might wish that I would have held on to a thought for a while longer every now and then, but on the whole, it is liberating and keeps the business moving forward at a rapid pace,” he said, before adding that this is as long as one sticks to the 80/20 rule.

When asked in the comments section how he managed to transition from being an overthinker to being able to take such quick decisions, Mr DeGiorgio explained that it took him “years to master” this ability, as he had to “re-wire his brain” to learn that overthinking leads to anxiety.

“Overthinking is normally caused by fear of the unknown. What if this? What if that? What helped me most in life was going through a period of adversity, funnily enough, because I then realised I could survive anything. So with that kind of mindset, I can now easily think: what is the worst that could happen if I screw up?” he affirmed.

Mr DeGiorgio is a seasoned iGaming industry leader, having led and managed various aspects of online casino operations. In September 2023, he co-founded KYZEN, a company that offers business-to-business services to iGaming operators in the areas of customer service, risk, payments, fraud, and payments solutions.