According to some sources, the average human in modern society makes approximately 35,000 decisions every day.
No matter how you slice it, that’s a lot of decisions to make in a 24-hour time span. Granted, most of those decisions are pretty automatic. We decide to brush our teeth, but we probably don’t think about it too hard.
People like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg took some of the stress out of the “what to wear today” decision by adopting a daily uniform of their choice.
Untold numbers of parents, tired of standing in front of the refrigerator every day, have adopted weekly or biweekly menu plans to take the stress out of deciding what to eat for dinner.
Those are simple ways to take back some of the time we spend every day making decisions.
Wearing a seatbelt, using sunscreen, posting something on social media, those are seemingly innocuous decisions that can have serious consequences. Hopefully we learn from those experiences and don’t make the same mistake twice when we don’t choose well.
There are some decisions, however, that can’t (and shouldn’t) be automated or preplanned, like how we should vote.
I’ve been guilty of going through a ballot and voting a single-party ticket without doing my due diligence about the individuals and their track records, their voting records, their beliefs and integrity or lack thereof. That’s lazy voting, and I’m deciding not to do that again, even though it takes time to review that blue book that comes in the mail full of legal mumbo-jumbo, and it takes time to read up on candidates and issues and the pros and cons that go with a topic. And sometimes it takes courage to vote your conscience instead of what’s popular.
This particular election cycle only has a few items on the ballot, making it a perfect opportunity to do our homework and make thoughtful decisions based on facts.
I know voting adds to that list of 35,000 decisions you have to make, but it’s a decision that really matters, particularly in local elections.
By Niki Turner | [email protected]
