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Making Decisions
Throughout our life, we come across crossroads. And what are crossroads synonymous to?
Making decisions.
Some decisions are small, and some are big. So big that they can change the script and trajectory of our lives.
Decisions that are that important need to be thought through before acting on them.
Unfortunately, we have to deal with the paradox of decision.
So, acting on a decision might not be the best, but you never know until you act upon that decision. If not, you end up paralyzed and unable to take any action.
To optimize for decision making, I’d let you read what Hameed has written
So one thing I think about sometimes is, how can you optimize for decision-making? How do you approach choosing between path A and path B? How do you know whether to ignore both paths and just stay in the middle of the road? Are these decisions more logical (as per pros and cons and what is ‘best for you’) or more emotional?
For many of my friends and other young people I talk to, the situation is similar.
Job with low salary but good reputation vs Job with great salary but boring industry?
Stay in a job with big promotion at end of the year vs launch startup idea now?
Focus on startup idea vs apply for Canada PR?
Do Masters in country A vs Ph.D. in country B?
Take a scholarship for a course I don't like vs a loan for a course I love?
Enter a relationship now and commit vs ignore alladat and see how life goes?
Finish UI BSc with two years to go vs jand and start all over without ASUU?
There are no easy answers to any of these questions. I personally have no clue.
But the way I think about my personal decision-making, for now at least, is around two constraints - reversibility and stability in time.
Reversibility
Reversibility is quite straightforward. It means, how easily can I undo this decision?
Some things are much easier to walk away from than some others. If you decided to switch from a skin cut to keeping an afro for example, that is super reversible - all it needs is a visit to the barber.
But a decision to have a baby? Not reversible at all, because you can't undo a baby. (Unless you were part of the Kufar in jahiliya period, of course. 😉)
For decisions that are reversible, my approach is to take them fairly quickly and without dwelling too much. I can also afford to ‘follow my heart’ and be more emotional. If it does not work out, I can reverse the old decision and do what appears to make more sense.
If someone had two job offers in Lagos and Paris for example, I’ll say take the role in Paris. Apart from the thrill of a new city and getting international experience, you can always return to Lagos if you changed your mind. But if you took the Lagos role and ended up not liking it, you do not have the necessary work authorization to easily relocate to Paris.
Stability in time
Stability in time is usually useful when you do a more analytical comparison. You might have drawn up a list with pros and cons of different options and be stuck because there is no clear distinction.
What does stability in time mean? It means do the features of this decision stay constant or do they change over time?
For example, in evaluating two people, you might find that they each have big pluses. One might be super attractive, the other might be very patient. Both of these are great qualities.
But physical attractiveness is not stable in time - we all become ‘uglier’ (sorry old people! 😂) as we age. On the other hand, patience is a trait that is relatively stable in time. In 5 or 10 or 20 years, a patient person will likely still be a patient person.
Another example might be in choosing an area of specialization, perhaps at school. A course like Library Science might not be the wisest thing to devote years of study to, as the relevance of the degree reduces every day. Meanwhile, a course like Psychology would likely be relevant till thy kingdom come.”
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Another factor I stumbled upon while making a case scenario is the Time frame. The window of opportunity. When an option or decision is constrained in time, one must take action before the window closes. Else the opportunity fades away.
For example, an undergrad student that wants to serve in the military and wants to go to a grad school. Taking that there is no age limit for grad school, but there is for joining the military.
In this case, it would be more reasonable, all things equal, to join the military, serve and then go for grad school later.
So, to make a decision, we have 3 constraints currently:
Reversibility
Stability in Time
Time Frame.
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That wraps it up for the week. Please don’t forget to send feedback.
See you next week