THIRTY-FIVE THOUSAND CHOICES

Two Roads Diverging

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”  ~Robert Frost

The average person makes about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day.  We need to consider the 10-10-10 rule which asks “What are the consequences in 10 days, 10 months and 10 years”.  Only a miniscule percentage will make all the difference as time passes and most do not merit all the anxiety.

The good news in American life is that we actually have the freedom and free market economy to have a lot of choices every waking moment.  For example, researchers even determined that we have 227 decisions about food every day.  There’s even a bar and grill that has smartly answered every married couples’ daily conundrum by naming their establishment “I Don’t Care” in response to one of the most frequent decisions they face, “Where Do You Wanna Go?”

Now you can decide if you wanna keep on reading.  North Carolina PBS posted these decision strategies to guide the process (along with my comments):

·         Impulsiveness — Leverage the first option you are given and be done.

·         I frequently forage for food at local food stores with a shopping list if I remember to bring it with me.  It’s safe to say that when the cashier asks if I found everything, my response is normally “Yes, and many other things I wasn’t even shopping for today.”

·         Compliance — Choosing with the most pleasing, comfortable and popular option as it pertains to those impacted.

·         If family and/or friends are gathered around a television and the majority is interested in watching another formulaic Hallmark show or a sports game, I can tolerate the show as long as I get to follow the formula and prophesy the next move.

·         Delegating — Not making the decision yourself, but pushing it off to trusted others.

·         There are many decisions which I’m not invested in and the outcome doesn’t mean a hill of beans to me.  Knock yourself out!

·         Avoidance/deflection — Either avoiding or ignoring decisions in an effort to avoid responsibility for their impact of just simply preventing them from overwhelming you.

·         At my last annual physical, my GP suggested a colonoscopy at my age to give it one last shot.  I gave that about one second’s thought and passed for the time being.

·         Balancing — Weighing the factors involved, studying them and then using the information to render the best decision in the moment.

·         A lot of decisions simply don’t deserve to be burning daylight, like “Would you like jalapeno sauce on that burger?”  Just say “Surprise me!”  Could go either way.

·         Prioritizing and Reflecting — Putting the most energy, thought and effort into those decisions that will have the greatest impact.

·         Some folks spend weeks and even months agonizing over deciding whether to stay single forever or choose someone to irritate for the rest of their lives deciding what and where to eat every night! 

 We likely use all of these strategies to cope with 35, 000 choices every waking day and choosing which ones is just one more!