Hack Your Life Series: Choosing Your Path
In life we are motivated by many forces: parents telling us one thing, our peers another, finances pulling us in one direction while our internal compasses pull us in another. With the abundance of information available to us, how can we ever truly know that the decision we are making is the right one. In this article I’ll share two techniques that allow you to confidently and accurately navigate through life.
Crunch The Numbers
The first option is rather utilitarian but very effective.
When faced with a decision, first think about the benefits you stand to gain. It’s not all about money... What would you learn? What connections would you make? Would it bring you joy and fulfillment or be an emotional drain? Tally all of the positives and record them.
Next, you want to determine the costs. What would it demand of you in terms of time, money and energy? If it’s a new job, commit to a trial period where you can reevaluate and leave if it’s not a good fit. Trying a new hobby? Commit to 6 sessions over 2 months. Leaving your city to live somewhere new? Get a 6 month lease with the option to renew. When you define the end date of a “micro-experiment”, you put a limit on the potential negatives.
Lastly, define your absolute worst case scenario. If shit really hit the fan, what is the worst that could happen? Be honest with yourself on this one, it is important.
Now that you have done the leg work, it’s time to crunch the numbers.
Look at the positives.
Do you stand to benefit substantially? Will you grow as an individual? Will it bring you closer to achieving your long term goals?
Now look at the negatives.
What will this cost you? Are you likely to end up hating your life after a few months? Will it lead to a decrease in overall well being? Are you willing to pay this price?
###Now, look at your worst case scenario.
Are you willing to face this?
If your positives outweigh your negatives (ideally by a lot), and your worst case scenario is something that you could rebound from (even if it was a challenge), the answer should always beyes. It will be a positive growth experience and can’t disable you for longer than your trial period. Grab your sack (or your ovaries ladies), put together a plan with an end date in mind and give it a shot! At the end of your test period, reevaluate, complete a similar analysis and keep growing.
Trust Your Gut
Now we will enter the land of the foo-foo, the undefined, the mystical. I’m talking about using your intuition to make decisions. This concept is becoming more accepted in the scientific world. Our intuition is the byproduct of our subconscious minds processing millions of bits of data (much more than we can consciously) and feeding this information to our conscious perception.
Have you had one of those moments where you just knew something was up?
Usually our guts are pretty accurate predictors of bad (and good) events. Unfortunately, in our culture (modern western) we had a strong aversion to data that couldn’t be quantified, and we chose to omit this incredibly accurate prediction method. We all have different of interacting with our subconscious.
If you have never “tuned in”, it may take some practice; however, over time the messages that you are receiving will increase in strength and accuracy. Make a game of it!
A great way to practice is to ask yourself questions you know the answer to. “Am I alive??”... hopefully that is a yes. Am I from _____ (insert country/state)? Is my name _____? You get the idea. This will give you a baseline of how your body/subconscious responds when the answer is yes. You can also do this with no’s. Once you have solidified this sensation, you can ask more interesting questions.
Take this at your own pace. As you start to trust yourself more you can discover the answers to complex answers.
Unsure if you should go on that date? Ask your subconscious. Is that new job going to be good for you in the long run? Ask your subconscious. This is a tool that we all have at our disposal, all of the time. Learning to use it effectively is incredibly +EV. It can be scary at first , but I guarantee that you won’t lead yourself astray. It would be kind of silly, wouldn’t it??
Hope you guys enjoyed the read, let me know how YOU make tough decisions in life.
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Thanks for sharing sir
This is really an important information.
That's exactly why so many people have to write down some pro's and con's if there's a big decision to make. I think it's helpful and you know why you made this decision and it's always good to think something through that could be a life-changer! Thanks for sharing, this is very helpful :)
An excellent post, on the first method had empirical knowledge since I applied it if I knew a methodology that defined the steps to follow.
Thank you very much for the contribution, this information can help many improve their quality of life by providing them with better tools to face decisions