So I've been helping some family members with some really big decisions lately.
As we all know, there are pros and cons to every alternative.
I remember how you can diagram decisions out like the branches of a tree with probabilities for each branch to try and get to the highest value decision.
The problem is we don't know everything that may happen down the road or even know the probabilities for each possibility--or as they say:
We don't know what we don't know.
So it's hard to make a great decision and not second guess yourself.
Well, what if...
You can "what if" yourself to sleepless nights and death and never decide or do anything meaningful.
We have to make the best decisions we can usually with limited information.
Using gut or intuition is not a solution either--those can end up being very wrong especially when we let our raw emotions dictate.
So I do not take decision-making for myself or helping others lightly, especially my family.
I want to protect them and help them make good decisions that will bear fruit and joy down the road.
I definitely don't want to waste everyones time and efforts and lead them or myself down a dead end or worse off of a cliff.
In the end, we have to turn to G-d and whisper:
Oh G-d, please help us to make the right decisions, because only you know what the results will be from it.
And so, I am definitely whispering!
At the same time, we need to move forward and not let fear and doubt get in our way of living.
Yes, we have to be prudent and take calculated risks (everything worthwhile is a risk), but also, we have to look at the potential rewards and the costs for these (every decision is an investment of time and resources) and then just try our best. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Struggling With Some Decisions