Do all of the decisions of life seem to overwhelm you at times?
I don’t know about you, but since Covid, it feels like we’re inundated with way too many decisions. I was curious about why this is, so I thought that this may be a good topic to write about.
In my search, I found out that as adult human beings, scientists say that on average, “we make approximately 35,000 conscious decisions each day.” I read somewhere that 95% of the decisions we make occur in our subconscious mind. Psychology Today “took it further and after subtracting time for sleep, concluded that we make approximately 2,000 decisions per hour.”
I was reading an article by Good Housekeeping on “5 Tips to help you make hard decisions, according to experts,” (5 Tips to Help You Make Hard Decisions (goodhousekeeping.com)) that said that “For the last couple of years, a massive amount of stress and uncertainty has resulted in a high-level of “decision fatigue,” or difficulty making moves, both small and large.”If you are experiencing this “decision fatigue,” please check out the article for suggestions on how to tackle difficult decisions.
Given the vast number of decisions we make every day, are we making good decisions or just a lot of them?
I think that we’ve all made wrong decisions, and ones that we regret. When I was younger and more immature, I would have let shame and regret eat away at me, which would then turn into me feeling bad about myself. However, over the past 5-7 years or so, what I’ve learned is that when I’ve made a wrong decision and I experience regret, I try to deal with it as quickly as possible, and let it teach me how to make better choices in the future. I also pray and ask the Lord to forgive my wrongdoing and to help me to not give into regret.
What do you do when you have to make an important decision? I think that it is super helpful to recognize that uncertainty in decision-making can be uncomfortable and then embrace that feeling. For me, I remind myself that God is always with me and that He will help me, especially as I acknowledge Him. I adhere to the book of Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 6 which says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” I also like what the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus said, “The only constant in life is change,” so we know that the uncomfortableness that we’re feeling during those times won’t last forever.
Years ago, and when I was a lot younger, I was living in Northern California, and I was struggling over an important decision that I needed to make. I happened to talk with one of the pastors of the church that I was attending at that time, and he gave me a great analogy that I use up to this day. He said decision-making can be like a vehicle that moves straight, left or right. You won’t go anywhere unless you turn the car on, put it in drive and move forward. We are like a car; once we are moving, we can go either left, right or straight. In my experience, the more important the decision is, the more that I need to hear from God as to which direction I should go. I have found that as I pray and ask God for direction, He guides me. Just like the car, unless we start moving in either direction, He can’t move us left or right. Although, I will also say that I have experienced situations in which I’ve prayed and feel that I am not to move, but that I should stay where I am and wait on Him until I feel the prompting to go forward.
Another thing I have realized with decision-making, is that all of our choices seem to be influenced by factors both within and outside ourselves - perceptions, motivations, and expectations (internal); external variables such as things that are beyond our control.
Finally, Birkman (Roger Winfred Birkman, an American Organizational Psychologist), wrote an article on “The critical piece you’re missing from your decision-making process.” (The Critical Piece You're Missing From Your Decision-Making… | Birkman). In it they describe The Birkman Method, which is a tool for understanding why we make the decisions we do. As we learned earlier, “not every decision is critical or even somewhat important, but for each of those decisions, brainpower, time, and effort are expended.” Interestingly, Birkman mentions how Steve Jobs was known for dressing a certain way- blue jeans, black turtleneck, and tennis shoes. This repetition may just be “to reduce the need to spend effort and time on what would seem to be meaningless decisions, especially if the jeans fit just right.” I don’t know about you, but as much as possible, I try to minimize the effort I spend on as mundane activities as much as possible. However, sometimes I just have to brain drain on multiple episodes of whatever tv series we are on at the time.
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