Aesop's famous fable tells the story of how the tortoise beats the hare in a race.
The tortoise plods along consistently while the hare races out to a commanding lead. The hare is overconfident and takes a nap, only to wake up after the tortoise has won the race. The tortoise then speaks to the hare the moral of the story: "Slow but steady progress wins the race."
Steady progress is the heart of Mini Habits and I believe in it. But for decision-making? Well, that's another matter.
The hare is derided for his poor choice, and the tortoise is praised for his consistent race to the finish. But did anyone else notice that the hare came racing out of the gates? He made an awful mistake, but what would happen if the two had a rematch?
The Tortoise And The Hare Part 2: The Rematch
by Stephen Guise
COCONUT CREEK, FL - Late last month, the hare challenged to tortoise to another race, despite his devastating defeat in 1867.
The hare's public shame from the first loss caused him to start binge-eating. When the hare came to the tortoise's penthouse in Beverley Hills, CA, his fur had a slight orange tint, likely from his addiction to carrot juicing. The tortoise looked at the struggling mammal and accepted the challenge. The race was held yesterday at Windmill Park in Coconut Creek, Fl.
The hare showed up at the track alone, having hitch-hiked from Miami. When the tortoise arrived in his private jet, a large crowd cheered him on, as his legendary upset of the former speedster almost 150 years ago gained him many fans. With his posse in tow and a sleek new headband, vegas odds on the race were 3:1 in favor of the reptile. The terms were set—three laps around the track would determine the winner.
"The tortoise is a sure bet to make the right decisions out there, because each step he takes is so slow, so calculated. The hare is proven to be a poor and hasty decision-maker," said Joey Mitchell, wearing a "Slow but steady" t-shirt. Other fans said similar things, and there was an aggravating amount of repetition of the phrase, "slow but steady," which the tortoise had monetized expertly over the years with t-shirts and coffee mugs. Don Scottsman, a "lifelong tortoise fan," had the iconic phrase tattooed onto his shoulder in 1997.
The runners lined up, and the gun was fired.
Just like the last time, the hare got off to a great start and was 200 feet ahead before the tortoise took a step. After lapping the tortoise once, the hare slipped on a banana peel, near the hot dog stand. The vendor smiled menacingly as the hare writhed in pain, clutching his right ankle, unless hares don't actually have ankles, in which case it was his foot area.
The tortoise caught up to the hare's position, but he was still one lap behind. As he passed by the hare, he said, "slow by steady, muahahaha!" The hare got up and hopped on one foot. He made his way around the track and lapped the tortoise again, with only half a lap to go to win. But that's when he saw the bed. It had his favorite memory foam mattress on top, and the fluffy white sheets smelled like spring; in the center of the bed, a glass of fresh carrot juice.
The hare stopped and stared. It was everything he wanted. His throat was parched from running, his foot hurt, and he absolutely loved to nap during races, but he remembered what happened 150 years ago. (Hares don't live that long, but don't sweat the details.)
The hare hopped past the bed and finished the race. He won! The hare dominated the slow tortoise, who finished later that day. We interviewed the hare just after his race.
WJKJK News: How does it feel?
Hare: It feels great. I've been waiting a long time for this. I knew I could beat him because I run somewhere between 1,675 and 1,900 times faster than him, so I just had to focus to win. I wasn't surprised he tried to get me juicing again.
WJKJK: Were you tempted to take a nap?
Hare: Of course, that's my favorite thing to do when racing, but I lost the last time I did that.
WJKJK: What was the difference was between you and the tortoise today?
Hare: You know, he makes nice decisions out there, each step is carefully taken, but if you ask me, he takes too long to take each step. He worries too much about foot placement when I'm focused on moving forward quickly. Part of it is his strategy and part of it is, ya know, species.
WJKJK: Thank you for your time, Hare. We wish you the best in next year's race against the Sloth brothers and Dr. Snail.
Hare: Thanks, I like my chances to continue this winning streak.
Make Decisions Like the Hare
While I love the tortoise's steady strategy for most of life, it's the opposite of what you want in decision-making. Slow decision-making will hold you back. It is rooted in fear of "choosing wrong."
Not making a decision is actually a decision itself, and it is ALWAYS worse than making a firm and fast decision. And here's something else - it's ok to make a wrong decision! Why should we fear making a wrong choice? Is it really so bad?
The hare lost the first race in the 1867 story due to a bad decision, but the reason that Aesop didn't write part two of the story (the rematch) is because the hare could have easily learned from his mistake and trounced the tortoise in the next race. The underdog being the winner just makes for a better story.
Imagine yourself, slightly tired, sitting on your couch. Your unfinished book is on your computer, you need to do laundry, you're not sure you're in the right career path, dinner is undecided, and you're thinking about a conversation you had earlier. Your mind is crowded with possible next actions, and naturally, you want to choose the best one. But here's something important:
When you spend less time deciding, you conserve energy and accomplish more things.
What It's Like to Make Quick, Firm Decisions
From your list, you abruptly decide to do laundry, having no idea if it's the "best choice." It takes you one minute to get the wash started. Then you decide to cook chicken casserole for dinner, not sure if it's the best choice either, but you get the ingredients prepped in 8 minutes to cook later. After that, you're sitting down at your computer, because you decided to type away at your book. You get into a flow and write 1,000 unpolished words in about an hour. You put the clothes into the dryer and press start.
Then you resolve to take 15-30 minutes to internally process the discussion from earlier (or talk to someone else about it). Next, you decide to read two or three articles about career transitioning and jobs related to your skills, followed by 30 minutes of introspection, in which you focus on the intersection between what you like doing and what you can get paid to do.
This whole time you're making decisions of what you think to do without much thought of order. You're focused on action.
After that, it's dinner time and as you bake the chicken casserole, you relax your mind and think about whatever you please (probably your career from the earlier research, and positive thoughts about how much you just got done).
If you add up this time, you went from overwhelmed to having a completed task list in about three hours. This is not implausible with quick and firm decision-making, it's the norm.
The Frustration In Hesitation
But what if you took a bit more time to make a decision? Let's explore that.
You wonder if you should put in the laundry now. You're a bit tired and maybe it would be better to work on your book. You walk over to your computer with the idea (but no firm decision) and open up your email without thinking. You check on a new email and respond to it. Then you open Facebook and respond to some comments and make up a new status about a joke you just thought up. In the newsfeed, there is an article about dolphins in Japan and you read it, and also read the heated debate below it. Those poor dolphins, how could anyone...
Oh no! Now it's dinner time and everyone's hungry.
Sssssnap! You feel stressed about everything you didn't get done, and as you fix dinner, the unfinished list looms above you like a dark cloud; the stress increases your heart rate and muscle tension. After dinner, you clean up, and you notice it's getting late, so you decide to relax for the rest of the night because you're stressed out anyway. You'll tackle the list tomorrow, along with tomorrow's list.
See the difference? Make the decision RIGHT NOW to be a quick decision-maker, and practice practice practice until it's a habit! Take the weight of being a perfect chooser off of yourself and experience the freedom in decisiveness.
You're allowed to make some wrong decisions when you're making a lot of RIGHT decisions.
Give yourself permission to make the wrong choice, as long as you do it quickly. You'll find that the fear of making wrong choices is one of life's greatest hoaxes and a root-cause of dissatisfaction.
Remember, deciding whether to clean your dresser or read a book is insignificant. Major life-changing decisions are few and far between, and I'm not saying to make those rashly. I'm saying not to sweat over the many insignificant ones you'll face daily. You'll feel a rush of freedom and power if you learn to make fast and firm decisions in everyday life.
It's counterintuitive, but by making quick decisions, you have a better chance to choose well. Why? Truly fast decision-making can bypass rationalizations to get out of good ideas. For example:
[Good choice, but rationalization]
- I could write my business plan, but I'm not sure where to begin
- I could go work out, but it might be better to go tomorrow
- I could ask her to dance, but she'll probably say no
- I could apply for a job I like more than my current one, but I doubt I'd find anything
- I could travel to Japan, but I want to wait until I have more time and money
How to Practice Making Fast Decisions
We often know the right choice, but it's easy to rationalize a delay. The longer it takes you to decide, the more doubts, fears, and rationalizations will pop up. It's more a matter of time than a matter of mindset.
Think about the psychological impact of a decision's timing. If you delay, even if you do it without a reason, it injects a sense of doubt yourself and/or the decision (and this doubt increases as time passes). But if you decide and act quickly, your action imply that you have confidence in yourself and your decision (even if you feel somewhat doubtful).
Example: If an entertainer asks for a volunteer, the longer you don't raise your hand (delay), the more reasons you'll come up with to keep your hand down. "Those other people were first, I'd be nervous, I don't see the point in going." These same doubts can exist in a person who raises their hand immediately, but because of the speed of their decision, their commitment overpowers the doubt. Part of the power of fast decisions and actions is that it takes your mind off of your doubts. If you raise your hand and the magician calls you to the stage, you're already in motion. In that moment, the mission changes from deciding whether or not to avoid the spotlight into being the best you can be on stage.
Here's an idea for making faster decisions.
Screen for serious consequences (worst case)
If you're considering doing something positive, the only reason to delay is the potential for serious consequences. Do a quick worst-case scenario run-through. It can be incredibly empowering to get you going on some of the uncomfortable, high upside endeavors we face.
This technique alone will tear through most of your objections for making a fast choice.
To summarize, I want to encourage you to make quicker decisions for more confidence, less stress, and to save time and energy. Since it is a skill and takes practice, I've given you one tip that has helped me decide faster: run through the worst case scenario of one or more of your options. That sets the floor, and if the worst case scenario (floor) is acceptable, you've removed the fear and can move ahead with your decision.
Cheers,
Stephen
