What did you decide today?

Our lives are made up of decisions: What to wear that day, which way to take to get to work, what to have for lunch, which people to talk to, how to react to the dinner someone made for us. Lots and lots of decisions. A lot of these we don't think about too much. For example, I am pretty easy going when it comes to lunch decisions - I will find something to eat at whatever place someone else chooses, so I tend to let the person who is more particular about their food or cravings pick the restaurant.

When it comes to bigger decisions - like marriage or having children or moving house - we tend to take a lot more time with those. We think things through, we weigh options we do research. And it turns out, that we are still not making decisions rationally. Very few of us go through the decision modeling exercises that professional decision makers go through.

But, I would argue, that's because we have to get things done. So we go off imperfect information and we do our best to explore options and then we go forward with a choice that may or may not be the "right" one. There is such a thing as decision fatigue, and we do need to make sure that we aren't weighed down by all the scenarios we have to think through in a given day.

Why am I bringing this up?

Mostly because parents need to remember that our decision-making processes are not perfect. But we learn to be flexible. We learn to be flexible because we can't predict everything in life. And it is a good thing for our children to see a choice we've made not work out. Because then they get to see us adapt.

What is one decision you made today that went really well? Tell me in the comments.