How do we make good decisions in our projects? It can feel like it's all about finding the right amount of options and then whittling them down to the final contender. But the process is fraught.
Only one option, and we wonder what we're missing.
The weighing up is simple with two, but there are rarely just two options.
As we find three, four, five and then variations of each, the ability to make good decisions dwindles.
The choice paradox is well documented but understanding why we behave the way we do doesn't help us avoid these pitfalls.
At the heart of this problem, we are attempting to avoid a future situation in which we look back with regret, essentially fighting hindsight from the future.
If I use hindsight today and look back ten years ago, thinking about some of the earliest decisions I made as I started my journey in entrepreneurship, my past choices don't feel so scary.
These choices, made nearly a decade ago, remain solid options today. I would consider each of them just as viable as they were then.
Was there an ideal option then? Is there an ideal option now? While I have some different preferences today, they are simply that; preferences. My original decisions were sound choices that would stand up to a decade of entrepreneurship.
There will always be what looks to be the 'best' option, but that can change daily, based on the new variables you are using to decide.
Perhaps hindsight isn't just something to fear but something that can help us realise the impermanence of our decisions and how low the stakes really can be in the long run.
Any 'good' choice is probably far more important than continuing to second-guess the future.