A ‘Decisive’ Person Can Still Get Mired in Indecision

When what you are best at isn’t up to the task anymore

Deepti Kannapan
5 min readAug 23, 2022
Photo by Einar Storsul on Unsplash

I prided myself on my decision-making ability. I was great at letting the irrelevant factors fall away, looking at the facts, and just wandering around as my subconscious chewed on them.

I’d stay in a state of pre-commitment — holding my cards close to my vest — not ruling anything out or leaning in any particular way, until the shift happened.

Suddenly the little workers in my brain-office come out of sequestr­ation to report that the quantum state of possibilities had collapsed to one possibility.

When deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up, what college to go to, which city to live in, what hobbies or classes to sign up for, I took my time.

It didn’t seem like I was doing anything on the surface. I’d do a bit of research or ponder now and then, and then shrug and go on with my day. I wasn’t worried about not having an answer yet. Because I could vaguely sense that subconscious was working on it, and would tell me when it was ready.

This was how I made all the life decisions I was proud of. I waited — then I knew.

And the decisions I made this way tended to hold up well to scrutiny. When I knew, I knew…

--

--

Deepti Kannapan

Painter, occasional cartoonist, aerospace engineer. Writes about sustainable technology, creativity, and journaling.