Ballet Slippers or Adorable?
When one breaks down the fundamental processes of thinking, they can come to realize, relatively easily, that life is made up of a never ending series of decisions in the moment of now. Some of these decisions are consciously made, while others are unconscious. That is to say, many decisions are made without the actual act of choosing occurring, but rather out of habit. While active choosing is that in which the conscious mind is aware it is making an active choice.
Throughout my day as a father, husband, and co-worker, I find myself involved with others making choices almost as much as I make choices alone. Some of the decisions I come to are in part by compromise, how to emotionally handle a situation, how to carry myself in attempt to elicit a professional response, and what to focus on. But most of the time, my choices are not significantly profound, and when they are, they determine what direction my career may go, how my wife feels about our marriage, and what type of adult my daughter will become.
I do not necessarily agree that all choices ought to be made on your own. Purchasing my first home absolutely had a profound effect on me, but it was to also have one on my wife, if not greater. Here, it was necessary to compromise; that is to make a choice while considering other factors. However, in this sense, that too was my choice alone to make. I would never choose to take my child off life support knowing my wife had the same amount of say in the matter, and in considering such, I will alone make the choice to decide to come to an agreement as to what to do.
I find myself more often than not, when inundated with choices, to narrow down the playing field by usually a process of elimination. For me, too many options provide confusion in the sense that the subtle differences between the options are difficult to see and remember while going through the processes of decision making, or making a choice. In this case, instead of conducting a process of elimination, I shift my perception, and conduct a process of retention. It seems then the more options there are, the more of what I would choose begins to stand out. Now, if I were blind, I would probably require an adaptation to another set of senses, or standards to choose from. It may seem probable that the more choices one has, the better the chances for better choices. This may be true, but I think it would depend on the choices and the individual making the choice. Perhaps, not making a choice is the better choice.
I have always been one to know what all my choices are before making a decision. I like to be as well informed as possible, so as to make a well informed decision. From my perspective, you can never say no to choice. You always have one, like it or not. It may not seem much of a choice from which to choose, but nonetheless, it is one.
I found Iyengar (2010) to be somewhat insightful on the subject, and applicable to leadership under certain contexts. The implications of her comments, referring to, ‘too many choices’ (lyengar, 2010), or of ‘choices being thrust upon you’ (lynegar, 2010), upon leadership, provide opportunities. They can also present a challenge for leadership to make tough choices, while still preserving organizational cohesiveness and company vision. The idea behind 'limitless choice' (lyengar, 2010) can benefit leadership, if perceived in such a manner that will not corrupt them, or others. I cannot say I truly found her work enlightening. Much of it, I was quite familiar with. When sharing the experiment with the children and the anagrams (lyengar, 2010), I was not surprised at all by the results. In fact, I guessed what she was about to say before she said it, and more importantly, understood why.
Iyengar, S. (2010). The art of choosing. Website TEDtalks Video, Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing?language=en.
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