Hey there,
A few days ago, a horrific sound came from the office. A continuous beep … and a sound many of us associate with dreadful fear, and perhaps … even death.
No. Not that kind of death. Although some folks may argue that the severity is almost the same — if not even worse — than that of human death …
But those folks are obviously nuts!
No. I’m talking about a mechanical death. More specifically: the death of a computer. A Macbook Pro, to be as detailed as possible.
So what has that got to do with you? A fair question.
Well, the real topic I wanna highlight is decisions.
You see, after the death(mechanical), there was an unfolding of events: The computer needed to be replaced.
But with what?
A blur of options suddenly appeared. And the word “blur” is the key…
cause I had to decide quickly. It’s hard to live in a computerless world.
Another laptop? What about a Macbook Air? The iMacs do look nice, I have to say…
Such an important decision – or so it felt. I couldn’t decide.
There’s one thing I failed to mention at the beginning of this message:
It’s not my computer. It’s my wife’s. I just happen to be the guy that buys all the computers in the family.
Ok, back to the computer choice. Well, at the mention of all these options, she looked at me firmly, then simply said: I want another Macbook Pro. And that, my friend, is hint number one.
My wife didn’t know it, but those clear words shaved hours of agonizing research from my life.
But…
I still had to choose what model of Macbook Pro to get…
Options, options, options.
I was in the middle of researching whether this model of Macbook Pro has the ram soldered to the motherboard or not. In other words: could I use a third-party ram or not — and if so — what third-party ram should I use? Clearly, this should be researched as well!
The door opened. My wife’s voice: “Have you ordered it already?”
“Not yet,” I confessed. I’m trying to solve … “the ram situation.”(somehow, this escalated to a situation)
After my quick explanation, she walked up to the screen — pointed at the 32GB option — “let’s do this one.”
That’s it. Nothing more. A fast, decisive decision based on the important facts. Not irrelevant facts. No imagined problems made up on the fly that doesn’t lead in the right direction. Just the facts … and that’s hint number two.
Decide as quickly as you can.
Listen: making a decision is often more important — than the decision itself. You can always course-correct. Make another decision if the first one is a dud.
But constant indecision can be crippling. If you’re not careful, you’ll invent masterful decoys and elaborate plans just to avoid making a decision.
Just decide.
To your success
Jesper
P.S. – It turns out that the feared death of the old laptop was somewhat premature. A faulty ram-slot was the culprit. But, it’s an old computer anyway. That said, my 5-year old son is about to get his first computer. Old or not … I don’t think he cares.