A man goes to the doctor saying “Doc, I have a problem: I can’t make any decision. I’m always in doubt. Or… hmm.. am I?”
I’m a smart guy. Really. I graduated from top European universities, with impressive academic results, etc. The problem with smart guys is that they have too many choices. Knowing you performed pretty well in the college classes makes you confident you’ll do the same in real life. After all, there were so many courses I was clueless about, but aced them after just a couple of days of study, that any random field can become familiar after a thorough 2-3 days study.
But like any teenager growing up, once I graduated from college I was met with a handful of choices: start a career in software development, follow a PhD in one of the many Computer Science-related fields, or even start my own business. The problem with smart guys is that they get too confident. Any field seems accessible. Yes, unfortunately almost any field IS accessible. So the problem is… which path should YOU take? Most life choices are therefore reduced to decision problems: should I take this path or that other one?
It’s probably a problem of maturity - as we grow up, we must make more and more decisions. Almost unlimited choices make you waste more and more time trying to decide things. In my case, I wasted countless months trying to follow different paths: in the last year alone I tried around 6 different startup ideas, invested energy and time in developing products, only to later change my mind and pick some other paths.
So.. what can one do? Is there a solution to the countless decisions problem?
I guess there’s no unique answer. Or.. is it? For now, the most I can say is that one should try to become a more decided and confident person. Flip the coin if you have to, but make up your mind! Faster! Don’t know what bus to take? Flip the coin! After all, most of our life is governed by hazard, a bit of extra hazard can’t make it worse than it already is…
What about important, life-changing decisions? I can’t help you on this one. But you can help me: what do you do to make up your mind between several business ideas, life changing opportunities or other life paths?
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译文:
抉择之时，请当机立断！
某人跟医生说道：“医生，我有个毛病，我很难做出决定，总是拿不定主意，呃，您看是这样吗？”
说真的，其实我不笨。我毕业于欧洲高等学府，拥有一些卓越的学术成果等等。而一个智慧的人会遇到的问题也就随之而来：拥有太多的选择。对于高校时代完美表现的认知会让你坚信你的一生也将同样一帆风顺。毕竟，我曾经对那些课程一窍不通，但通过一段时间可以把任何领域在两三天时间内就熟练上手的学习过程，征服它们也就不在话下了。
但就像每一个青少年的成长过程一样，我一从大学毕业就遇到了一堆选择：是在软件开发领域开始我的职业生涯，还是师从某计算机科学相关领域博士，甚至是开展自己的事业。智慧的人总是太过自信，在他们看来任何领域都触手可及。是呀，很不幸的就是任何领域都触手可及。于是问题变成了......到底该选择哪条路？大多数人生抉择也因此演变成了选择的问题：我应该选择这条路，还是那条？
这可能是一个关于成熟的问题-伴随着我们的成长，我们必须做出越来越多的抉择。而几乎没有任何限制的选择也让你花费越来越多的时间作出决定。比如说我，浪费了一个又一个月的时间尝试不同的路：仅仅去年一年我就尝试了六种不同的创业念头，投入精力和时间开发新产品，而所得到的结果不过是之后改变主意选择其他的道路。
那么......能做些什么呢？这个无尽选择的问题有解决办法吗？
我想没有唯一的答案。难道有吗？至少现在，我所能说的就是你应该试着成为一个更加果断和自信的人。万不得已的话抛硬币，但至少要下定决心！果断一点！不知道乘哪辆巴士？抛一枚硬币！总之，人生处处充满未知，来点不确定因素也不会让它比现状更糟......
那么至关重要的，有可能改变一生的抉择呢？这方面我没法帮助你。但是你可以帮助我：当你面对一些商机，改变人生的机会或者其他人生之路时，你会怎样做出抉择呢？