How to make up your mind

[Morgana]

I thought this New York Times article had some good advice on how to make decisions. Some of it has been mentioned before here -- especially by seasoned vanlife veterans to starry-eyed newcomers -- and some of it might be new. If you're racking your brains on something you can't quite decide (haha for me that's Tuesday), it might be worth trying this.

The TL;DR is to
(1) consider MULTIPLE options (not just Plan A yes/no, but Plan B and C)
(2) work out in detail what could go right AND wrong for each
(3) be realistic about what's most important and which plan has the best chance of delivering that

It has a nice, methodical, reasonably fun and nonthreatening way to go through step 3. You get to use all your best-case fantasies and your worst-case paranoia and eventually boil them down to a practical decision.

The article says you should get advice from lots of DIFFERENT people (this forum is perfect for that!). I think the important thing is to do it thoroughly and not skip any steps.

It could help!

(It's an older article; I think they re-published it because it's New Years. Happy resolution-making and -keeping!)

 

[eDJ_]

There are some people who create their own Personal Decision making Matrix to assist them with making an important decision. So many of these are tailored to group activities but you can Google for example of those that assist with personal matters. The internet is full of info on this subject. The trick is not to get too complicated with it.

A personal decision-making matrix is a table where you list different options for a decision you need to make, along with key criteria that are important to you, allowing you to score each option against those criteria and ultimately choose the best choice based on your priorities; essentially, it helps you weigh various factors to make a well-informed decision