Big decisions can be much easier than small ones.
People who routinely make big important decisions for living often tell us they struggle with smaller, trivial ones; they wonder why they find it easier to commit to a multi-million-dollar business deal than what to have for lunch.
Interestingly, the biggest decisions of your life are almost always binary; buy or sell, stay or quit, raise or fold – even life or death. If you have a third option [or more] you’re no longer on the horns of a dilemma; if anything you are literally ‘spoiled for choice’. So long as there’s really only two paths you can take there’s not an awful lot to think about: you do or you do not. (Thanks, Master Yoda)
Compare that to the paralysis we’ve all felt choosing a paint colour or getting dressed for an important occasion or – worst of all – lost in the bewilderness that is any supermarket aisle, trying to determine ‘the right one to buy’. In those circumstances it’s the options are overwhelming not the stakes – it really doesn’t matter what you pick.
Unless you are a chess master, a surgeon and/or an air traffic controller your life will be a litany of countless, trivial multiple-option choices perforated by the occasional critical binary-option decision and what kind of life that is will be determined by how well you handle both situations.
We make our decisions and then our decisions make us. Deep, huh?
Applying The Tools
Different decisions, different tools.
No matter what form the decision takes, there’s a few important questions we need to consider first:
- Is this really a decision? Y/N
- Do the consequences matter? Y/N
- Is it actually my decision to make? Y/N
Only if the answers are Yes, Yes and Yes do you need the next two questions:
- How long do I have to think about it? [seconds/minutes/hours/days/weeks?]
- How many choices do I have? Two/More than two
If the answer to Q5 is ‘Two’ you’re dealing with a binary-option decision. Now what?
Evaluating your binary options
Existential dilemmas may be emotionally complex but they’re usually quite simple in nature and structure; if you’re forced to decide between two, mutually exclusive options then the next question would have to be ‘Is one better than the other?’ and if the answer is YES there’s probably not much more to think about.
If the answer is NO then that means they are equally good, in which case you can’t lose – toss a coin.
But what if both are equally bad?
What to do with two equally bad options
Let’s take a moment to consider how extremely unlikely that is, assuming the two options are not exactly identical. Are you sure there’s not some tiny difference that makes one even slightly better/worse than the other?
But let’s say they’re equally bad for different reasons, their various pros and cons even out; so then what?
Ask yourself ‘Can either of these bad options be undone?’
If one of them is reversible, try that one first; that way if it doesn’t work out you at least have another bad option to try. If both [or neither] of them are reversible, ask ‘Are either familiar to me?’
If both or neither are familiar you might as well toss that coin again. If only one is familiar that’s the one to choose – if you’re going to be ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ you’re slightly better off being damned in a hell you already know.
Evaluating trivial multiple-options
What if you have more than two options; how do you avoid being overwhelmed with possibilities? Firstly, take a moment to reflect how lucky you are to have so many opportunities.
Here we ask ‘Is one better than all the others?’ and if the answer is YES then we’re all done. But the more items on the menu, the harder that question is to answer; stare at three or more things that are only slightly different [breakfast cereals, shampoos, laundry detergents, shoes, TV dramas…] and our brains get quickly befuddled.
So why not compare them two at a time? Pick any two at random. Which do you prefer? Keep that one, chuck the other. Compare the champion with a new contender. Like that one better? Great. Chuck the old champion, keep the new one. Work your way through the menu until every option has had its shot at the title.
It’s how we choose chess masters, Olympians and show dogs.
Evaluating critical multiple-options
Faced with a bewildering myriad of options and expected to choose the very best one? You need a simple method to compare all these possibilities and a very clear idea of what you mean by Outcome and Effort.
What do we mean by Outcome?
Simply, all the benefits you hope to get from your decision; challenge, prestige, money, power, a better world? It’s your call. Make your own list.
What counts as Effort?
It’s what all those good things will probably cost you – time, resources, risk, hassle, criticism, any opportunities you’ll have to forgo. Again, your pain, your list.
Ok Now What?
Consider what can be gained by each and every option and rank them on a scale, say of 0-10, ten being the very best outcome. Repeat that process, this time in terms of what kind of Effort each one might entail, ten being the most painful outcome. Plot them on a grid if you like but at a glance you should have no trouble identifying High Outcome, Low Effort options. Do those first. Then take another look at any High Outcome options that involve Medium-High Effort… they might well be worth a rethink in the near future.
