IF IT'S THE EASIEST THING...

I’m not sure how old I was, somewhere about 12 I would guess. I was trying to figure out how to make the right decisions. I didn’t write anything down at the time, but my recollections are pretty clear.

I remember watching how my decisions went. The options I had. What happened after a decision. How well my choice worked. An event would come up where I’d have to decide something; bring my bike? Ask mom for directions? Wait on a pitch? And I experimented with making decisions ahead of time; Do the easiest, try the 2nd thing I thought of, take my time and think about the effort, the consequences, etc

I couldn’t figure it out. I’d choose something as best I could and it wouldn’t work out. Try again, seemed the obvious choice, wrong again. All I can remember is that I tried all kinds of variations/permutations, over and over and over

I wasn’t succeeding. I had been keeping track. I couldn’t find a pattern, a way to decide.

The Easiest Thing Is Rarely The Right Choice

It turns out that I concluded that choosing the easiest options was usually wrong, the 2nd choice was too influenced by the first choice, and that pondering worked the best. I took it to the point that when I’d look at a situation and my choices, I’d automatically rule out the easiest and go from there. For almost everything.

I’m guessing this is a big part of why I don’t follow social norms to this day :-) Not that I don’t participate in them, but only after exploring other options and deciding to choose the norm for myself as opposed to just going along.