We make choices all the time without even noticing it. What tea to brew in the morning, green or black? What scarf to wear? Which hand to open the door? We solve it automatically. But as soon as we need to make a choice consciously, we fall into a stupor. Who is to blame and what to do?
My friend Yura is a very interesting, active and sparkling person. But he has one problem. He can’t make a choice. At the restaurant, he studies the menu for an hour. For months he has been thinking about investments — suddenly something more interesting turns up. Gets a job for half a year at all, choosing a company, because they “very much persuaded” (in fact, when the money runs out).
What’s there — she’s been dating a girl for seven years, they have already given birth to a child, but she still won’t make an offer: what if this is the wrong choice?
Looking around, I saw that it was not only Yura who was afraid of the choice. It saddens and confuses almost everyone. Where mechanicalness does not work, we postpone the decision in the hope that it will somehow resolve itself, or “suddenly a more interesting option will turn up.” I already spoke about this case at the beginning. Well, and where possible, we act «on the machine.» And the lazy brain happily saves energy.
Take anyone on the street or in the office and ask about the choice. The choice is good, any conditional will say. These are opportunities, these are horizons, this is hoo. It’s only worth bringing the process closer, as it turns out that the choice always comes with determination, responsibility and, alas, disappointment from missed opportunities.
Marketers, television producers, and travel package sellers have known this for a long time. They masterfully juggle «special offers» to the relief of buyers and their wallets. At the end of the year, I was developing a board game for marketers. One of the tasks was to name 5 or 10 popular product names in a short time. different categories. The most common, such as washing powder.
There are forks in life that are much more important than the intersection of a supermarket. And it is important at such moments to turn meaningfully
So, when it came time to test the game, it turned out that promotion professionals could hardly name 5 brands. But 10 names on the move could no longer. Sophisticated advertisers don’t want to remember names! Because they don’t really want to choose. What can we say about ordinary people with carts. But okay carts.
There are forks in life that are much more important than the intersection of a supermarket. And it is important at such moments to turn meaningfully. At least for a short time turn on awareness. Well, you can move slowly without sudden movements, at least not stand with your mouth open. Because a choice has to be made. I have, by the way, had a lot of situations when I did not dare to decide. And what? Everything worked out by itself. The choice was made for me by other, if not circumstances. But it was not my choice.
A promising relationship that «doubled, tripled» and led nowhere. Projects that pulled the resources of the company until they were completely exhausted. There were many different «non-elections» … And yet there is something to be proud of.
It so happened that 20 years ago I entered two institutes at once. One that I liked and one that was prestigious. Image considerations prevailed. I handed over the documents, took the work form and got on the bus. I went to do the then mandatory labor practice. But three stops made a choice. I went out and went to the place where I really wanted to study. And that moment was so powerful that I still remember it with pride.