The ability to make decisions is a quality often overlooked as a character trait or positive quality because we make them so often. It is one of the most important abilities of the human species, and yet all too easily taken for granted. Decisions determine your life and the life of others in very big ways. Every second of every day people are making decisions that determine their lives and the lives of many others. Decisions are influenced by everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I’ve heard the process of decision making described through systems such as automatic and reflective, as well as rational and emotional. In other words, the situation, your mood, what you ate last, how you were raised, where you are, the colour of the pill you took and a seemingly infinite sea of other things determine how we decide. Perhaps we have less control over what we decide than we think we do.

What we decide as moral might depend on the weather or what we just read in the newspaper. It goes counter to how we think we decide, yet time and again this is what the science demonstrates. When was the last time you made a decision you felt you had full control over, without outside influence? Think wayyy back, because it probably has never happened. This is potentially depressing for some, but the reframe is equally powerful. Knowing this, can’t we make better decisions through self monitoring, being totally honest with ourselves, and getting frequent feedback? I think so.

Think about that the next time you are about to put that cookie into your mouth, buy that tablet you don’t need, and think that buying a house is a wise decision. What are you assuming? You might realize that you don’t even know what you don’t know. You are your own person, but the illusion of control, security, and knowledge isn’t something you should ignore. It’s the game being played around you that you don’t even know exists that is most dangerous.