Decision
Last week, I thought about my indecisiveness, how it started in general and where it got us as a human society. That train of thought just led me down another path. A question worthy of its own article. The question being, if decisions, the choice between options, are beneficial or the opposite.
Benefits
We believe that a wide variety of different choices is what sets us free. Something that gives us individuality and personality. Something that makes us stand out of the crowd or blend into the crowd depending on what one wants.
Decisions give us the freedom to choose our favourites in a truck full of options. Decisions allow us to have self-expression in a world that seems so mundane and so focused on uniformity. Decisions make us distinct and different from the rest.
Most of all decisions give us control and responsibility in a world we have so little control over. When you make a decision, it is solely on you if things go your way. You are the only one responsible for it and the only one who can take the credit.
Now the question would be what is so bad about decisions? If decisions are so great and give us so much freedom, why am I writing about it? Technically, I am not going to argue about decisions in general but the overload of decisions we are facing and what the hindering aspect of this decision overflow is.
The decisions we face
Before I get into the disadvantages, let´s consider all the decisions we are facing every day. It is almost comical how we do not consciously perceive the decisions we face every day, which is a good thing now thinking about it. Either way, decision-making became such a passive process, which shocked me when I consciously considered every choice I made in a day.
First thing in the morning, the time I wake up. There are so many times I could wake up but the time I get up is normally dictated by the time I need to study. However, now I have free reign. No “school”. Therefore, I can get up whenever I please. Sometimes I would decide to sleep in for five more minutes.
When I finally manage to get up, I have to decide what to wear. Normally, I decide that in the evening but sometimes I forget. Then I have to decide if my hair should be up or down. If I should comb my hair before or after I get changed. If I should go to the lavatory before I get changed. All that.
That is why routines are important, so one does not have to spend forever deciding how to get up and get going. After that, I have to decide if I should work before I have my breakfast or vice versa. Should I bring my phone down with me or leave it upstairs.
With breakfast comes the age-old question of what one wants to eat for breakfast. Other factors come into play as well like how hungry I am, how much time I have and what I have in my fridge. For breakfast, I have settled for the same breakfast every day to prevent these trivial decisions.
During breakfast, I like to either listen to music or watch a video. I can´t watch a video if I decide to leave my phone upstairs but I can listen to music nonetheless. After breakfast, I have to decide what to do with my day. Write, study or something else completely.
Then comes lunch, dinner and all those tiny trivial decisions in between. A normal day is filled with decisions and it just seemed funny to me how much I did not notice. Moreover, this is just a normal day; don’t get me started on a grocery shopping day.
There are benefits and disadvantages to running your day on autopilot, where one minimizes the decisions one have to make by following a schedule and focusing completely on work. However, I find it slightly mundane and unspontaneous. I guess, it is about finding a balance. Not too much schedule but not too many decisions either.
Disadvantages
Indecisiveness
The first issue with so many decisions is the problem I have been facing in last week’s article, Indecisiveness. With so many decisions, there is no doubt that we could ponder a bit about our options since, after all, we only want the best out of everything.
I sincerely doubt that we would choose the option, which is the worst for us. We choose decisions, which we favour the most, which is most beneficial for us, amongst other factors why we would decide for a certain option over another.
Decision paralysis
With the number of decisions we could be facing every day, we could be overwhelmed by it all. So many options with so much information to take in. It is only a matter of time when our brains just feel exhausted even though, we have barely been doing anything. The list of decisions we may face could paralyze us, which leads to the next point.
Decision fatigue
After facing decisions for a long time, there is also a psychological phenomenon called decision fatigue, which sets in. The quality of decisions we make after long sessions of decision-making will deteriorate exponentially.
The effects include (according to Wikipedia) the reduced ability to make trade-offs (where the willpower to resist certain options just completely dissipates), decisions avoidance, impulse purchasing, and impaired self-regulation.
Many people may believe that they are not affected by decisions by the end of the day and we are only exhausted because of the draining activities we have done throughout the day like sports and the stress we have been under during work or school.
However, the truth is that we are all a bit exhausted by decisions at the end of the day. The decision willpower allowing us to make rational decisions already start in the morning when we choose the outfit for the day to the time we decide to go to bed. Next time you are exhausted for no apparent reason, now you know the reason why.
With great decisions comes great responsibility
When one is faced with decisions, one knows that the responsibility is all on them. When one makes a great decision, one is the only one to congratulate. When one messes up and makes a terrible decision, one is the only one to blame.
There is no one else to blame if you made the wrong decisions by, for example, buying the wrong cereal in the supermarket or choosing the wrong shoe in a store. If that cereal is not to your taste, you can´t blame the company that made it. If the shoe does not fit, you can´t blame the shoemaker for making bad shoes.
You are the only one to blame and that can make you feel bad. If there are no decisions you could make, then you probably feel annoyed that you can´t make a decision but you won´t feel terrible for spending your hard-earned money on something you don’t like because you made the wrong decision.
With high expectations come great disappointments
When we get the chance to decide, we expect our end result to be perfect. Don’t shoot the messager but that is rarely the case. Perfection is objective and could change with every influential variable like other´s opinions and personal taste.
With our expectations before we choose, we are less satisfied with the ramifications, which will contribute to the disliking of our decisions, even though that decision was good. This disappointment will lead to something we did not expect before we even know we could choose.
Doubt
When one makes an important decision, then tries to move on with their life but may find their minds travelling back to the decision one has made. About the consequences, one has to live with now and what could have been if one chose differently.
This doubt will follow even though the decision you have made would have been the best choice you could have made. Or maybe not. The decision could be haunting for the distinct reason since you believe you made the wrong one.
The worst part about this is not the doubt but the effects that that doubt has on one´s day. As an overthinker, I can say having your mind wander and doubt your previous decisions forces you out of the moment you are living in.
The worst part is you can rethink your decisions when you are alone and waste your time on something essentially useless since no one can go back in time to that decision and change it. However, one tends to think all the time, hence you might miss the good effects of your decision.
Doubt will follow unless we are satisfied with the decision we made. Satisfaction is a personal standard that only you can establish. In some cases, we could be happy but we also could not. We do not know beforehand, therefore we want to make the right decision, which brings me to my next point.
No right decision
There is rarely a “right choice.” Just like there are no good or bad people, there is also no right or wrong choice. Everything is on a spectrum and everybody´s spectrum is different. What may seem like a good choice to you, your best friend might disagree. The right decision is a perspective thing.
Takes too long
Let´s face it; decisions when overwhelming and lead to indecisions can take up a lot of time and effort to figure out the “right” choice. Inadvertently it is taking that time away from the things, which truly need that time.
Sometimes taking too long to make a decision can also have unwanted consequences. When people are pressuring you to make a choice, the people will be annoyed if you take too long. When you are pressuring yourself to choose, you will be annoyed with yourself if you can´t make a choice or the right one for that matter of fact.
Choices can be limiting
Decisions are just choices between two or more options. A simple choice between if you want to have either A or B. However what if neither A nor B satisfies your expectations. What about other options, C, D, etc…
This may sound contradictory since I argued why more decisions is more time spent away from the things you could be doing something productive instead. However, with this point, I am not arguing that we don’t have enough decisions.
I want to argue about how choices between A and B is preventing us to think of C, D, the other remaining twenty-two letters, and furthermore. This choice between two prevents us to think of more, think outside the box if you will.
Conclusion
Every day, I think about how my life could have been easier if I did not have to choose my clothes every morning (the reason why I adored school uniform). If I don’t have to choose what to have for dinner (the reason I adore cafeterias, which only serves two options with a side).
If I do not have to choose anything such as job, study course, romantic partners, bike, house, etc… How much time I could save when I am not deciding because I do spend a lot of time deciding something, which I might have to do for a very long time.
These vast amounts of choices, also made me feel indecisive, decision fatigued and avoid decisions altogether by letting someone else choose or constantly postponing to choose in the first place. See last week’s article on indecisiveness for reference where I tried to explain to myself why I am indecisive in the first place.
The reason why I don’t like decisions are mentioned above, but this just got me thinking about how much I would hate it if I don’t have a choice at all. How limiting that would feel. How out of control I would feel. How burdening it could be.
Just like everything, it is a fine balance between choice, limited choice and no choice at all. Trivial choices should be limited and schooled into a routine so one can focus on the complex choices, which we could make or break our lives.
Videos
This article was inspired by multiple videos but the video, which confirmed my thoughts was the ted talk given by Barry Schwartz. An American psychologist who wrote and talked about the paradox of choice. I found his Ted talk interesting since he also gives examples of his arguments and mentions aspects I have not even thought about.