Don't Overthink It

According to a new psychology article in Newsweek, the ways of writing down pros and cons in an attempt to come to a logical decision may be overrated. Benjamin Franklin used to give advice on reasoning out complex decisions- he called it "moral algebra". His theory states to divide a sheet of paper in half, write down a complete list of pros and cons, revisit the list in a couple of days and weigh the pros and cons, decide which pro and con seems of equal weight and then strike them both out. What's left in the balance is your best answer.

Wray Hebert writes "Such "balance sheet" calculation is still taught today as the most logical and systematic method for dealing with many of life's complexities. Kids are counseled to choose colleges and careers this way, and managers similarly deliberate the pros and cons in important business decisions. But is moral algebra really the best method for decision making in today's dizzyingly complicated world? Or is there virtue in simplicity for many life choices? A growing number of psychologists are questioning the soundness of Franklin's method, and its modern iterations, including data-heavy calculations by increasingly powerful computers".

A leading challenger, Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max Planck Institute in Germany, is the author of "Gut Feelings", a book that collects a convincing body of evidence for the power of hunches over laborious data crunching. Hunches, gut feelings, intuition—Gigerenzer calls these "heuristics," fast and efficient cognitive shortcuts that (according to the emerging theory) can help us negotiate life, if we let them.

Maybe we are overcomplicating things and wasting time on unecessary details in everyday and life changing decisions. We should strive to be "satisficers": a term coined by Gigerenzer for people who practice "satisficing" decision making, as in "satisfying" enough to "suffice." Satisficers don't feel the need to know everything, in contrast to "maximizers," who do want to weigh every detail imaginable in making even minor life decisions. Interestingly, studies have found that satisficers are more optimistic about life, have higher self-esteem, and are generally happier than maximizers.

Song of the Year

If you’re like me and was lucky enough to grow up in the raging 80’s, then you’re probably all too familiar with one of Journey’s best hits, “Don’t Stop Believin”. This is dedicated to that song and its symbolic significance in my year of 2007.

I’ve been around this song since I was a little girl jamming with my dad while he played his favorite Journey album on his Pioneer turntables. Much of the popular songs from the 60’s up the 80’s are pleasantly nostalgic because of him.

I actually heard it again for the first time this year in one of the locally-loved pubs, The Meridian Room. It happened to be karaoke night and we’ve already sat through a couple of unnoticeable turns. The next guy gets on stage and doesn’t even get to the first verse of “Don’t Stop Believin” before the whole bar burst into whoops and delight. Everyone knew the intro by heart. It was like a religious experience. People were waving their hands in the air, dancing, singing at the top of their lungs to the words and drowning out the karaoke singer. Even the wait staff were dancing and joining in the chorus. I can’t recall the last time I was in a bar where every single person in the room was happy, smiling and enjoying themselves for 5 minutes straight, including myself. Who would have thought the 80’s could still be so much fun?

For some reason, that night and bonding experience left an impression on me. Thereafter, whenever I would hear that song I would be transported back to that happy place where all was right with the world and there was nothing but good feelings all around. Talk about association. “Don’t Stop Believin” became an overnight life motto for me. I’ve applied it to every area of my life this year: my career, my relationships and my self worth. And it has kept me going ever since.

I am just a small-town girl, after all. Living in a lonely world. I’ll take the midnight train to go anywhere.