I am grateful that we have options and choices. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. Choosing can be scary. Making a decision is scary AF.
What if it’s the wrong decision?
What if I choose the wrong option?
What if I make the wrong choice?
What if you don’t?
Pittbull’s song ft Stephen Marley was very insightful, not to mention also the theme song for our girls’ weekend JHB for Fit Night Out, a lifetime ago.
I got, I got, I got, I got options ….
Options vs Choices
Well now, I have to say I would be a millionaire if I got a dollar every time someone said they have no choice, especially at the current exchange rate.
You always have options. Options are fixed. They are the things.
You always have choices. Choices are our decisions.
You have a choice whether you want to have breakfast or not.
You have options as to what you want to eat for breakfast.
Just stroll down the breakfast isle. FFS, the options for sugary breakfasts treats are endless. Not only are there Oatees and Coco Pops in plain, chocolate, blue or pink, but now there are Oatees flavoured Coco Pops. The options have bumped uglies and made little option babies. Yes, the options have options. But you can choose to rather cook some original oats I guess. #justSaying. Unless your kids have held your mornings to ransom and only chocolate-Oatees-flavoured-Coco-Pops in a pink bowl with the tiny spoon will get you out the door. Hypothetically speaking of course.
Action vs Decisions
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What colour should you paint your nails?
After agonising over breakfast options for ages, you finally make a choice. You DECIDE that you want a sandwich for breakfast. Hey, it’s not what I would have chosen but that’s your choice hun. You pat yourself on the back for having made a decision. You are adulting. How awesome are you? Here’s a Noddy badge. But your stomach is grumbling. You are still hungry. You haven’t actually fed yourself yet, have you?
What you haven’t done is take action.
Action is the carrying out of your decision. The dirty work of decision making if you will? This part is the hardest because taking action requires effort. The blood, sweat and tears type effort. The crying, self-questioning, sacrificing kind of effort. Ok a bit dramatic for making a sarmie, but I’m trying to make a dramatic point here. Are you prepared to invest the effort, time, and resources into making that decision? This is the part that trips us up, that creates an excuse list as long as the half time bar queue at an Ed Sheeran concert.
You hate your job?
Then find a new one?
Easy peezy?
Oh, wait but that means updating your CV (where is your CV?), looking for jobs, applying for them and writing a cover letter. Fark. And going for interviews and re-evaluating who you are and the minimal success achieved thus far in your life due to lack of decision making and action-ing in the past…. so you don’t do anything. Well I lie, you do do one thing. You complain you hate your job. Obviously, this is all hypothetically speaking again of course.
Back to the breakfast sandwich. You are still hungry. Action time! You could grab a slice of bread, add some Nutella, fold it over and voila. Didn’t even dirty a dish, and if you use your finger to spread the Nutella, then you have zero washing up. Or you could dig out the snackwich machine from the back of the cupboard, butter BOTH sides of the bread (Don’t be a butter shnoop), fry up some bacon, add cheese, top it off with some caramelised onion relish, and toast until golden brown. Both require actions of varying degrees. Both options resulted in a sandwich. Both satisfied your hunger.
Which leads us to the outcome of decisions and actions.
Consequences & Results
Every decision not actioned has consequences.
Every decision actioned has consequences.
Every indecision has consequences.
Want to be a millionaire? Awesome. Great decision. But, just FYI, binge watching Billions every weekend won’t get you there, no matter how good-looking Damien Lewis is.
Want to be a millionaire so you take some action and cancelled Netflix and Showmax. Ok that’s a start.
Not sure if you want to be a millionaire? Ok that’s a different blog. Let’s put a pin in that one, shall we?
Indecision IS a decision; the results are just not so obvious because you living them out daily.
Results and consequences are essentially the same. Consequences sounds negative, results positive. Both come from having taken action. Which means you won’t have a result if no action was taken.
Think stuck in a rut.
Think same ol’ same ol’.
Think SOS – same old shit.
Think going nowhere, fast. (Incidentally also the name of an awesome Eminem track)
Didn’t look for a new job? Now you think you are “stuck” in a bad job. Not really. That was a decision you made by deciding not to take action. You chose the easy option. The Nutella sarmie option if you are following the food analogy thread here. You are getting a salary, just not enjoying the experience. If you had found a new job, the result would be different. The cheese and bacon with caremilised onion sarmie option. You are getting a salary but the experience is so much sweeter. (Thank you Woolies for caremilsed onion relish.)
What was your desired outcome?
Did you just want to satisfy your hunger? Or did you want an enjoyable lunch experience?
Note! I have been watching Lucifer on Netflix so expect a lot more words like “desire”, “satisfy” and a few “well now’s”, “Shall we” and “Don’t mind if I do” – All said in a gorgeous British accent.
The Take-out
I think that when we say we have no choice, what we really mean is that the other options available to us are; Just. Too. Damn. Difficult.
Not that they don’t exist.
We CHOSE not to take action. The difficult choice means we have to do some serious adulting. A great deal of action and effort will most certainly be required. It may mean long term plans, effort, investment, sacrifice, time and money. It may mean having to wait to defrost the bacon and wash dishes after a delicious sandwich. It may mean not binging on Netflix series all weekend. (Just for a while, not forever! Chillax….)
But we always, always have a choice.
Not choosing, is a choice, you just know the results already. You will be exactly as you are, where you are. You are living out the consequences.
Accept it or change it.
Embrace where you are or;
- Consider your options
- Choose – make a decision
- Take action
- Experience the results
Decision making, perfectly sorted.
Perfectly Sorted 
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