Choice Paralysis

Choices can be hard. I’ve noticed some conditions make them harder than others.

Of course there are the obvious contributors – how much is at stake, how much time is allowed, what your choices are, how many choices there are, who the critics will be and how many critics there are.

A fun fact I learnt last year through a Rotary seminar was that our brain will find evidence that whatever choice we make is the right one. Our brain is literally programmed to support our decisions, once made.
This means that the hardest time when we have choices is the time between finding the choices, and making the decision.
The time we go round and round in circles, frustrated that we’re not progressing, but afraid of putting a foot wrong.

And sometimes, we will put a foot wrong. We’re human, it’s part of the experience. Trying to ‘research’ your way out of making mistakes will rob you of time, energy and experience. Failing, after all, is the best way to learn. Once you weigh up the negative consequences of course.

If the most negative consequence is something reversible, go for it.
For example, quitting my job. I ran through this scenario with multiple people: Worst case scenario was that I would run out of money, and need to get a job back in mining. Best case scenario: positive mental health, freedom, learning, experiences, peace.

I’ve always been a pretty open book in my choices, and feel like I’m ‘sneaking around’ when I’m not sharing openly. However, some decisions you need to make for yourself. We cannot forever be worried about how our choices affect other people, or what their opinions are. Sometimes we just need to leap.

*as an additional observation this week, I’ve noticed that sometimes we have days where decisions are easier, or decisions are harder. When in relationships/ teams, it can help to identify and communicate these days to encourage others to step up into more of a decision-making capacity. It is also something to watch out for in your partners to enable you to have more success in both task completing, and maintaining positive relationships.