Decisions, decisions, decisions. Often we refer to future decisions as adulting. This sometimes becomes an overly challenging task we all face constantly. As I watch so many kids walk around campus, I become awestruck by all of the decisions floating in the air — so thick it is almost tangible. I am also amazed by all of the people in the world striving to achieve this lifestyle of adulting and more enthralled by those who achieve this high status. Some of these decisions are big and will make a lasting impact on our lives: what major to declare, what career to pursue, who to date, who is marriage material and what religion to practice — the list is endless.
How are we making these decisions and what are the effects of the decision making process in our lives? It seems like a lot of high-stress thoughts accompany hard decisions. Perhaps, it would depend on the way one thinks. Depending on the way we think about our decisions, it can make it easier or more difficult to come up with the solution to our dilemmas.
In a study done on decision-making, researchers looked at the type of thinking someone engages in while making various decisions. They came up with several different decision-making scenarios and asked these people to consider the options and make the best choice. They recognized a few different categories of individuals based on how they thought through their decisions: maximizers, assessors and locomotion.
Maximizers are individuals who make sure all possible choices are available to them. Assessors make sure that they know their decisions inside and out and they seek for the truth in their decisions, not just the best, but what is the correct decision. Those in the locomotion category are all about the action. They dismiss overthinking and go straight to the quickest answer.
All of these have downfalls and upswings. However, there is one that causes an individual more stress when used. The assessor seems to come out of decisions more unsatisfied and distressed than the others. It was said that “the assessor would rather be right than happy.” It seems to me that they often seek for what they consider to be the “truth,” creating a high-risk situation in their mind even for small decisions.
Those who make decisions with a locomotive mindset have positive feelings about their decisions and experience less distress. Action driven people make a choice and do not look back — what an amiable quality.
When faced with a decision, the tendencies to act, assess or maximize in different situations arise naturally. If we seek less distress, we need to act wholeheartedly and not look back on our decisions. What a challenging task when decisions become complex. However, I do believe there is value in understanding the impact of one or many decisions. We must continue to allow for informed and cognizant thoughts. Perhaps, overthinking these choices is not the answer.
When faced with the next most difficult decision of your life so far — which seems to happen often in college — remember action leads to satisfaction. How we think and decide to process our decisions has an impact on our well being and satisfaction. Finding new strategies to solve critical issues and act could be a good way to go about the way you solve problems, especially if you tend to over-assess or even maximize your options too often. Good luck adulting my friends.