My head is full of details about news stories past and present. We all suffer from information overload but I think it’s different when that info is about your passion, say, competitive quilting. When it concerns the heinous and horrible things people do, it’s not as easy to store.
One of the other things I’ve stuffed my tiny brain with over the years is the minutia of decision-making. Some people are born deciders. I have a friend like that. She just makes a decision and plows ahead. She doesn’t poll everyone she knows or wring her hands about possible outcomes. She decides what’s right and gets it done. That might be because she has three small children and no time for nonsense, but it works.
I’ve made pro-and-con lists as long as I’ve been able to hold a pencil. Exploring every possible eventuality seemed like the smart way to go. Life wasn’t going to get one over on me! I’d outwit it and make the perfect decision every time, by golly. Have you met my third husband?
One has to consider fallout, of course. You can’t go through life like a bull in a china shop, crashing into everything at will. And there’s some validity to the pro-and-con method, but the exploration of all outcomes and deliberating for days or weeks just muddies the waters. It’s paralyzing. Basically, it’s evidence of a lack of confidence in decision-making skills and life in general.
One approach to decision making is much simpler. Decide what kind of person you want to be and judge whether you’ll be that person in light of which choice you make. It’s more emotionally based but it’s brilliant. Are you a risk-taker and want to be adventurous? Then open that business – make it happen.
All of this came to mind while watching the latest video by my friend and keynote speaker, Kevin Bulmer. In his latest video, Kevin quotes Han Solo in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as proof that statistics about failure don’t have to stop you. There is such a thing as too much information.