by Rick Baker
On Apr 22, 2014
"It is very difficult to make really big, important, life-changing decisions because we are all susceptible to a formidable array of decision biases. There are more of them than we realize and they come to visit us more often than we'd like to admit."
Dan Ariely
'The Upside of Irrationality' (2010)
While, in relative terms, it is easy to make small, less-important decisions these decisions too are affected by our biases. And these small decisions too can be life changing.
Here's why/how they can be life changing:
The small changes happen bit by bit over time. We have a word for these changes. We call them "habits". Some of them are good; some of them are bad; all of them change our lives by influencing our thoughts & actions and by influencing how we are perceived by others. To the extent the small changes are founded on emotions they contain more lasting power. So, small changes - especially those small changes that grew out of an emotional base - have the ability to influence our thoughts & actions for long periods of time.
Big decisions & small decisions and big changes & small changes: all can contribute in long-lasting ways to develop a person's character. [In fact, when you stop to think about it, what else contributes to the building and maintenance of a person's character?]
Regardless, it is possible for people to make permanent & positive adjustments to their character.
Yes - easy to say, difficult to do...
One simply needs to commit to creating better habits then do the repetition of thought & action required to generate and solidify those better habits.