How do I decide well when the clock is running?

You have a decision to make and a date it must be made by. Good. A deadline is not the enemy of a good decision. It is the only reason most decisions get made at all. Let us build a method you can use again. First, write the decision as a question with named options. Not "what should I do about the job" but "do I accept, decline, or ask for two more weeks?" A vague question cannot be answered, only worried about. Second, write down what you would need to be true for each option to be the right one. This is the step almost everyone skips. It converts a feeling into a claim you can check. Third, go and check the two or three cheapest of those claims. A phone call often settles what a fortnight of thinking cannot. Fourth, decide a day before the deadline, deliberately, and write one line saying why. That line is what protects you later, when the outcome is known and memory starts rewriting your reasons. A decision is good if it was made well on what you could know. Outcomes are a separate matter. What is the actual question, and what are the named options?