What should I do?

Hi Reader,

I’ve been thinking about decisions...

Not the big past ones necessarily, but the process that leads up to a decision.

When have you been thinking about something for days, weeks, or even months, and then suddenly something changed? You can't put your finger on it, but you just know, that it's the right time. The right opportunity.

Nothing externally has changed, but somehow you know - you are going to do it.

What drives that?

And what is the exact point at which thinking becomes action?

We like to believe that we make all decisions rationally. We collect information, compare the options, think about the consequences, talk to people we trust, and eventually arrive at the right answer.

“Weighing your options”

Why not, right?

There's no standard process for every single decision though.

At some point, you already made a decision in your heart. Your head is what governs your body and acts like the constant analyzer. You can over-analyze things, and I've done it plenty of times before.

Let me tell you - you miss out on some things in life that require a bold decision, even when there is a decent amount of risk involved. When I already feel strongly in my gut about something, I try to just go for it. That change helped me a lot in my career over the past years progressing from entry level to Managing Director.

Enough information. Enough thinking. Enough opinions. Enough reviews.

And you choose a direction.

The interesting thing is - we’ve made that moment much harder on ourselves.

We’re overwhelmed with more info than ever before. That means more choices. More opinions to read. More reviews to compare, and just more time and energy spent.

Does it help reach a more fruitful decision? Sometimes, but not every time.

Now we have AI, which means that if you aren't sure about something, or you want to find out something that's been nagging at you, you can ask a machine to give you another perspective in seconds.

Then you realize, you are actually making LESS decisions. The more you do this as the day goes on, the WORSE your ability is to make a clear decision.

When you take a standardized test, they tell you to go with your first instinct on your answer. Why? Because your brain usually convinces yourself otherwise even though you know it deep down, the correct answer, because you studied it!

But our brain is funny, because it always wants you to double take. That's just how we survived as a species over the years.

We are not facing life or death decisions on a daily basis anymore.

When it comes to something reversible, just take the leap, and you will learn to adjust based on the results you get. That's taking steps forward and making progress, even if it's a learning experience.

You don't learn anything in paralysis by analysis.

“Just do it” is the most famous slogan in the world. Stay with me...

There is a strange confidence that comes with reaching that point by the way, "Just doing it"

Not confidence that everything will work - something different.

Confidence that if it doesn't work, you'll adjust and redirect. You always figured it out to this point anyways.

Perhaps you’d like to join me in focusing more on this moving forward:

What decision have I already made, but haven't surrendered to yet?

Maybe that's the question. Just think about it - but not too much :)

Until next time,

Kevin