Decision Paralysis

Life would be so much easier if we could make decisions knowing the outcome. 

We have one life and a finite one at that. We have no way of knowing the end until it is happening and have to prioritize what we do now assuming that we are going to get a reasonable 4,000 weeks with the off chance of getting hit by a bus tomorrow. 

That means we are forced to choose priorities, sacrificing parts of our lives that are still important to us. Or we can opt to not make any sacrifices and risk never truly getting good at anything—risking the likelihood of being successful in the process. 

That word. 

Success. 

What does that even mean? 

Surely it is different to each of us but what is the right definition for you?

Money? Fame? Freedom? Fulfillment?

It seems possible to accomplish all of them, but few manage to. At least, few I’ve met. 

I’ve met people who sacrifice their mental wellbeing to have fancy Christmases and others who live in squalor to pursue what they want. 

Both are left perpetually stressed but by different stressors. One seems happier than the other but is happiness what we should optimize for when happiness is merely a fleeting state of being? 

You can be paralyzed by trying to figure this all out or take step after step after fucking step and hope to find yourself along the way. 

Some will, others won’t.

So you could stay stagnant while you search. You could pause everything while you research the dark recesses of the internet and hope to find the thing that accomplishes all of this. 

And risk never making progress towards anything, let alone accomplishing anything. 

To that, the answer seems clear.

All that’s left is to take action or guarantee failure. 

Whatever that means.