Life is about choices.
I’m sure most people know that, though. In reality, how many times do they actually think about it? When it’s a big life-changing choice like what career to chase or what country to live in.
Maybe, too, when deciding whether to live with a partner or open a savings account.
What about when choosing soda or water? What about when choosing between homework and a Friday party? These are also choices. Do they affect you as much as a big choice like a career path, though? Maybe not as much on a directional level, but they affect you more often. All you need to do is a little math to figure out how important these small choices are.
Of course, not everyone has the best options. Some people must choose between two evils, and the results aren’t always great. If there are serious issues in your life, please refer to a skilled professional. These articles are not a replacement for that.
Think about it; you will make big life-changing choices only a handful of times. It might be once every few years or once a decade. For the small choices, they happen every single day. You pick your food; you pick your clothes; you pick how you’ll spend the next hour.
Why Your Choices Matter
First things first, do choices matter? Does anything matter?
Well, that’s a great question, isn’t it? I wrote an article about meaning vs. happiness that touches on this idea. https://lowkeyjournalism.com/happiness-or-meaning-a-choice/
According to Dr. Jordan Peterson, there are two choices in life: Everything matters, nothing matters.
It is really up to the individual to choose whether they want things to be meaningful or not—however, therein lies a bit of a dilemma. If you choose to say nothing matters, you choose to act in the world according to that. It means no matter what you choose, it’s all the same. Yet, poor choices will still bring you suffering in the end.
Thus, why not choose something that makes less suffering for you? Because choosing that would mean choices matter.
When a person decides their choices matter, though, that means everything matters: food, clothes, what time to wake, your partner, how much you save each month. Though some more than others, they all matter. That is a lot of pressure to make the “right” choices in life.
How does one know if the choices made are “right,” though? Well, there is always the concept of personal morality, social ethics, and survival. However, for the less dire choices, what do you do?
Are your Choices Working for You?
I don’t mean, are they good choices like, “How’s that working out for you?” I mean, are those choices making an effort towards whatever you want?
Dr. Dweck says that fixed mindset people value talent and genius. They think that no choice matters because if you have talent, you don’t need to put in the effort to be better. It’s just natural. However, that’s not the case at all.
Getting better at something takes effort, and every choice you make either works for or against you and your goals. The growth mindset praises the effort that goes into achieving something. If everything can be changed, then your choices matter!
For fitness, going to the gym is one step forward. Doing the workout properly is another. Going extra hard is yet another. That’s three possible steps forward. Every time someone chooses to go extra hard, they take three steps off of a single choice.
On the other side, eating poorly or skipping a meal might be a step back. Skipping the gym is another step back. On top of being a step back, it is also three missed chances to step forward. That’s quite a few losses off of a single, small choice, and these choices will build up if you let them. Don’t let them!
The Cycle of Choices
Many things in life are cyclical. Making choices is just one of those things. There are a few different types of choices that come into place here. I’ll list them out.
Daily Choices: Obviously, these are the choices made every single day. They include things like choosing clothes, food, when to wake up, etc. These are the easiest to forget about and overlook.
Day-by-Day Choices: These choices are the ones you make based on what day it is. They are things like going out for a drink, watching the football game, and meeting going on a date. They are usually cycled through every week.
Monthly Choices: These are the monthly things you choose, like when to go shopping, when to pay bills, whether you can afford to buy certain things. This cycle often revolves around money as paychecks are bi-weekly or monthly.
Longterm Choices: These are the big boys. They affect pretty much all other choices to some degree and will have lasting effects. These are choices like where to live, what job to pursue, and who to marry.
Make the Best Choices Easier
When your choices matter, you have to be sure you’re picking the best route, despite everything. The best way to master these cycles and make the ‘right’ choices easier is to automate your decision making. This is usually done by forming habits and routines.
The brain has a limited about of resources per day that it can dedicate to tasks. When that brainpower goes down, we get less productive and are more prone to lazy choices or stress caused by difficult choices.
Making choices takes brainpower. Choices that go against your natural instinct to be lazy take even more power. So, the choices we know we should make become harder as the day goes on.
Step 1: Arrange an easy routine and start working on that first. It will take a lot of brainpower just to change your routine, so master that cycle first. Dedicate some time to decide the things you want to do every day that will make your life easier or better. Focus on doing them until you no longer think about them. The decision making will go away, and it becomes autopilot. This conserves energy for other things.
Step 2: Decide ahead of time when you will doing things and layout a schedule. Schedules are subject to change, and rightfully so. Life is ever-changing. However, making plans ahead of time will reduce the number of smaller choices you make. If you arrange to pay all bills on one day, you don’t even need to think about it later.
Step 3: Dedicate your mental recourses to what’s important. Not everything deserves your attention. If the choice doesn’t make much difference, try not to linger on it for too long. If it is small but reoccurring, refer back to step 1 and 2. That way, you won’t be tired when the time comes for making big decisions.
Step 4: Deliberate. If it is a long-term choice, then give it the time it deserves. Weigh out all the pros and cons of the choice and take the time to really know every facet of the choice and how it might or might not affect you.
We have the freedom to choose what we please. However, we lack the right not to choose. Thus, we must make the most of our choices. Whether to reduce suffering now or in the future, improve or worsen our wealth or health, or guide us towards good or bad, the choice is ours. What will you choose?
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