A recent study reported in London’s Guardian suggests over thinking leads to bad decisions, and that our most important choices may be better left to our raw instincts. The issue seems to be that our minds can only focus on a few things at once, and when we obsess over a decision, the few areas we focus on may be unduly weighted one way or the other.
Obviously, important considerations require some thought, but the reflection needs to be objective. In “Blink,” author Malcolm Gladwell’s research on numerous cases of decision making, shows that in many instances of complex decision making, less input is better than more, as long as the input is balanced.
I also think that anxiety over decisions involving personal risk contributes to bad decisions or indecision, simply because the anxiety over the decision becomes associated with the subject of the decision itself. Of course, then there’s fear…
Oh, and “Honey Don’t Think” is a great little tune by Grant Lee Buffalo from their record, “Mighty Joe Moon.”
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