2-3-4 Friday

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

What do you do when you don’t know what to do?

The answer to this tends to be difficult to find. But experiencing this, is something we all go through. 

And boy, is it one of the hardest things to navigate.

Especially as an adult.

Who would have thought that having choices would make you unhappier?

Let’s break it down.

Often when we say,

 I don’t know what to do. 
 I wish I knew what to do in this situation.

We are often faced with two challenges.

One is that we are faced with a decision point, where we can’t decide. 

Examples include:
1. Should I leave this job, and go to another?
2. Should I leave this partner?

And one of the biggest reasons why this happens is because we can’t foresee the future, and we would rather have one bird in hand, than two in the bush. We would rather the devil we see, than the devil we can’t.

Even if the situation we have is bad, we know it. And we’ve been navigating it.

The other is that you’ve a surfeit of choices, and you can’t decide. 
1. This job, or a dozen other different careers?

You might be in a place where you’re not sure if a choice you make is going to yield what you want. So what do you do?

One principle I hold is what the angel investor Naval Ravikant, says.

If you can’t decide, the answer is always no. I will let him explain.

1 talk

When you choose something, you get locked in for a long time. Starting a business may take ten years. You start a relationship that will be five years or maybe more. You move to a city for ten to twenty years. These are very, very long-lived decisions. It’s very, very important we only say yes when we are pretty certain. You’re never going to be absolutely certain, but you’re going to be very certain.
 

If you find yourself creating a spreadsheet for a decision with a list of yes’s and no’s, pros and cons, checks and balances, why this is good or bad...forget it. 
 

If you cannot decide, the answer is no. 
 Naval Ravikant, in The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

1 tip

I know, this isn’t the advice you were looking for.

Especially when you don’t know what to do. You wish someone would just tell you what to do.

It sucks to be in a position like that.

One thing that helps me is deciding to balance between running and reinventing.

Some people have described it as building the plane as it flies.

You might be wondering whether you should find a new job.

 
 Do the job, whilst looking for something else.

In other instances, decide, and then adjust to the consequences of that decision.

At the end of the day, we fear making the decision more than the decision itself. Because we know that even in past horrid situations, we’ve managed to make them work out.

So why won’t this work out too?

Trust yourself.

Think others might benefit? I’m counting on you. Forward this on.