Analysis Paralysis

I tend to like numbers - naturally I've got a Masters in Statistics. SO - when is my data number crunching really just analysis/paralysis? The answer - when a timely decision is in stalemate and the number crunching is in an infinite loop.

My computer is full of spreadsheets of analysis - Roth Conversion; Utility Deregulation analysis; break even calculations; HSA vs Lower Deductible; Refinance; Inflation; Investment Rates of Return; the list goes on and on.

All these numbers were used to give me confidence in an "optimal" decision. Really that feeling is just a comfortable way to "put the decision behind me". It is massachistic to constantly re-think logic already decided upon - but it is a trait that I can get caught up in without the comfort of saying -"I already did that in a spreadsheet".

Luckily, when I am tempted to find the old spreadsheet - I can't find it among the 8 computers in the household with a combined 575 Gig (not including the backup hard drives).

But it is somewhere - so I can be at peace :)