decision-making, à la Libra

In these circumstances, we can become anxious about the risk of making the “wrong” decision. But this approach places way too much emphasis on the moment of choice instead of what comes after. Truthfully, choosing the “best” option won’t guarantee that things will turn out well in the long run. At the same time, making the “less ideal” choice is unlikely to relegate us to total unhappiness forever. Life simply doesn’t work like that.

Young people may find themselves in this predicament as they arrive at the moment to pick a career that brings them not just financial stability, but personal feelings of fulfilment. For those a bit older, deciding whether to have children or making choices that impact their kid’s futures – where to live, which schools to send them to, or extracurriculars to enrol them in – can find that having too many options is a heavy burden.

We’ve all become measurers of opportunity cost. This means we focus not only on what we’ll gain from our choices, but what we’ll be missing out on by making them. Because every decision will always mean choosing one thing over another, falling into this habit is all too easy. Still, it may cause us to believe that none of our decisions are good enough, leading to stress, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness.

We should do our best to avoid analysis paralysis – becoming so fixated on measuring potential outcomes that we fail to make any decision at all. I’d argue that defaulting to indecision is the worst choice because, by being passive about our lives, we leave our futures up to other people, or up to chance.

With incessant input on how you should live your life coming from social media, mainstream media, advertisements, as well as family, friends, and partners, being able to listen to your inner voice has become more important than ever. Instead of being crippled by the desire to always make the perfect choice, we should remember that the “right” decision is always the one we make.

We can, after all, become the architects of our destinies… as long as we learn to act decisively.