IF IT'S THE EASIEST THING...

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I’m not sure how old I was, somewhere about 12 I would guess.  I was trying to figure out how to make the right decisions.  I didn’t write anything down at the time, but my recollections are pretty clear.

 

I remember watching how my decisions went.   The options I had.  What happened after a decision.  How well my choice worked.   An event would come up where I’d have to decide something;  bring my bike?  Ask mom for directions?   Wait on a pitch?   And I experimented with making decisions ahead of time;  Do the easiest, try the 2nd thing I thought of, take my time and think about the effort, the consequences, etc

 

I couldn’t figure it out.  I’d choose something as best I could and it wouldn’t work out.  Try again, seemed the obvious choice, wrong again.  All I can remember is that I tried all kinds of variations/permutations, over and over and over

 

I wasn’t succeeding.  I had been keeping track.  I couldn’t find a pattern, a way to decide.

 

The Easiest Thing Is Rarely The Right Choice

 

It turns out that I concluded that choosing the easiest options was usually wrong, the 2nd choice was too influenced by the first choice, and that pondering worked the best.  I took it to the point that when I’d look at a situation and my choices, I’d automatically rule out the easiest and go from there.  For almost everything.

 

I’m guessing this is a big part of why I don’t follow social norms to this day :-)  Not that I don’t participate in them, but only after exploring other options and deciding to choose the norm for myself as opposed to just going along.

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