Decision-making can be stressful. Not making decisions or making the wrong ones can be even more stressful. What’s the difference between gung-ho and decisive? One is about diving in enthusiastically, often unthinkingly, the other takes into account the relevant factors before making a move. Gung-ho people are very definite about what they like and what […]
For all our faults, human beings really are extraordinary, and all the more so when acting on their gut feeling that something may be wrong. Artificial intelligence (AI) is catching up, but we still wipe the floor with AI if it’s a matter of some tiny detail that somehow we know isn’t the case, despite […]
Wouldn’t it be good if we all learned about decision-making and decisiveness at school? We learn mostly by the consequences of our decisions. We learn from history how key decisions affected the world. Economics explains what goes into a decision and conversely what gets left out (opportunity costs). Legal studies show the ramifications of choices, […]
There are certain decisions that make you feel sick – should you take that new job, should you go off and study, is now the time to travel? The intense fear comes from worrying that you’ll make the wrong choice and this “paralysis by analysis” can strike us at any time. Why do we struggle […]
Does it all go back to childhood? My daughter and my five-year-old grandson had a massive disagreement last week. My daughter, like me when she was little, decided not to play along with the Santa game, and from day one said that Santa is a ‘character’ just like on TV: fun, but not real. My […]
