Time to decide

People should be more firm when making decisions, even when they have limited information

by Richie Jiang opinions staff

If you’ve ever been paralyzed by indecision, you know it’s not a good feeling. This uncertainty is often worsened when the choice is one that greatly impacts your future, and you only have limited knowledge on where the different decisions might lead. After all, how are you supposed to know what exactly will happen in your future?

This lack of knowledge can be our greatest obstacle, with the risk of stepping into the unknown being too daunting to overcome. So, instead we might cope by withdrawing, over-preparing, or worst of all, resigning ourselves to following the decisions of others. So how can we persuade ourselves into making a risky decision when we just don’t have the amount of information we’d like?

Well, making decisions based on limited information has been part of our lives since the beginning of human existence. And of course, not all of them unfold exactly how we’d like them to. Whether it was eating those strange berries that we thought weren’t poisonous, but are now making our vision blurry, or deciding to invest in the stock

In hindsight

market right before the Great Depression, we have always made objectively “bad” decisions due to insufficient knowledge.

However, in our modern age, we have more resources at our disposal to gain a better understanding of what our future options look like. Gaining more information, whether from others or online, about the possible repercussions of our decision is one way to address the uncertainty. Another key step to beating this paralysis is being able to make that risky decision while still missing “crucial information.” Sometimes the risk can seem too great to not wait for more information, but we also need to consider what that waiting can cost us. The stress of trying to determine what may be an unknowable outcome can lead to us doubting ourselves and our judgement, in addition to the multitude of other problems mentioned above. Furthermore, what truly counts as “crucial” knowledge? This endeavor to acquire more information can also ultimately end up unhealthy if you put too much emphasis on trying to prevent any and all negative results or know and control the unknowable. If you feel that the future causes you too much stress, try addressing that through

Most common big life decisions categories

Career-related

Educationrelated

Family-related

Finance-related

Relationshiprelated

Relocationrelated

Self destructionrelated (e.g. addiction)

Self developmentalrelated (e.g. religion/ spirituality)

Source: Podcast Notes

Scan to learn more about what causes indecision healthier methods, rather than obsessing over what can’t be known.

Indeed, the only way forward is for us to acknowledge the uncertain outcome and risk of our choices, and then, be able to take it still.

This problem of not being able to decide when lacking information is often compounded by the knowledge of when our past decisions might have panned out in a way we didn’t like. Once we’ve committed to a path, too often we are consumed by the thought of what could have been if we had just known what we do now. The knowledge of this can lead to us wanting to avoid making such a mistake again, even if it means resorting to one of the coping methods mentioned above.

This rumination on the past is fruitless and self-demeaning. Our past decisions are set in stone, and if you did what you thought was best at the time, then that’s all you can ask of yourself. Learn to accept that, and better understand what possible outcomes of the decisions in your life are, while recognizing that some will remain unknowable until they happen. You might find yourself a more prudent and confident decision maker.

And maybe just stay away from strange berries.

P

Students and staff share hard decisions made in their life and how they made them

“Choosing volleyball over tennis was a big decision for me. I had to weigh the pros and cons. I chose volleyball because it was a new sport for the school; it’s good to be a part of Ladue history.”

Ashmit Tendolkar, junior

“Talking to my parents and siblings about my top priorities in a school helped me make my decision. I looked at my schools again with the new priorities I made with my parents.”

Jordan Hunt, senior

“My big decision recently was moving my family to California. We have talked about moving many times. This time we had a really great offer and thought this was a great opportunity.“

Rachel Garavaglia, teacher