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Live by choice: how to make a decision
Live by decision. The advice from Making Good Habits, Breaking Bad Habits is only three words long. Yet it describes two very different ways to live. One person drifts, letting circumstances, habits and other people choose. Another person pauses, considers options and decides. The second path takes more effort, but it leads to a life that feels owned.
Defaults are powerful. Researchers Eric Johnson and Daniel Goldstein showed that organ donation rates are far higher in countries where donation is the default. People rarely change what is already set. The same thing happens in daily life. We keep jobs, routines and subscriptions simply because changing them requires a choice.
Practical ways to make a decision with confidence
So how do you make a decision without endless doubt? First, define what matters most. Two or three clear criteria simplify complex choices. Second, set a deadline. Open-ended decisions tend to drag on. Third, accept that you will never have perfect information. A good choice made in time often beats a perfect one made too late.
It also helps to separate reversible choices from irreversible ones. Most daily choices can be undone, so you can move fast and learn. Big, permanent ones deserve more care. For example, trying a new tool at work is low risk, while signing a ten-year lease is not.
Finally, own the result. Once you make a decision, commit to it fully and adjust as you learn. Regret often comes less from bad outcomes than from feeling that life happened to us. Living by decision changes that. Even mistakes become part of a story you chose to write.
In addition, write down important choices and the reasons behind them. Later, that record helps you judge decisions fairly, because you can see what you knew at the time instead of judging with hindsight.
