I think there may be a fair amount of truth to this. Many times when I have had to make a decision I have agonized over for ages. Then I force myself to decide by drinking a beer and saying "when I finish this beer I will make a decision." Of course, by that point I've usually already made my decision at least subconsciously and just lack the courage to implement it. Hence the beer. I did this when picking a Japanese language school. I never regretted that decision. I did it when deciding whether to ask Ayumi to come to America with me. Never regretted that. I did it when I was deciding whether to ask Ayumi to marry me before she went back to Japan (This was a question of timing not, there was by that point no question of whether I would do it or not). All three proved to be great decisions.
I think the thing was that there were very good reasons for making the other decision in these cases, but in none were those reasons strong enough to do anything more than give me some pause. The thing that this comes down to is that the burden of proof should rest with the decision that is against your emotional inclination. If the balance sheet comes out approximately equal, but you still feel inclined to one of your two options, have a beer and then do it. You may regret it, but I think the chances are much better than even that you will not. Anyway, that's been my experience.
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I think there may be a fair amount of truth to this. Many times when I have had to make a decision I have agonized over for ages. Then I force myself to decide by drinking a beer and saying "when I finish this beer I will make a decision." Of course, by that point I've usually already made my decision at least subconsciously and just lack the courage to implement it. Hence the beer. I did this when picking a Japanese language school. I never regretted that decision. I did it when deciding whether to ask Ayumi to come to America with me. Never regretted that. I did it when I was deciding whether to ask Ayumi to marry me before she went back to Japan (This was a question of timing not, there was by that point no question of whether I would do it or not). All three proved to be great decisions.
I think the thing was that there were very good reasons for making the other decision in these cases, but in none were those reasons strong enough to do anything more than give me some pause. The thing that this comes down to is that the burden of proof should rest with the decision that is against your emotional inclination. If the balance sheet comes out approximately equal, but you still feel inclined to one of your two options, have a beer and then do it. You may regret it, but I think the chances are much better than even that you will not. Anyway, that's been my experience.
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