The reality is that we must make choices. If we don’t make them proactively, we will make them reactively. For example, every day when I sit down and think about Sapiens First I have to choose what to do. It can be easy to open email or scroll on Twitter and not make the choice proactively. Choosing is a muscle, one that must be built over intentional practice.

Choices are the hardest thing to make. I don’t believe we’re taught how to make choices. I learned how to write a five-paragraph essay, and even how to create a pro-con list, and once in robotics club I learned how to create a table of values. It all felt rather inane to me. I don’t feel that I truly made a decision until I graduated from college. But others are different – some of my friends turned vegetarian when they were just 10 years old.

For me, the hardest part about making a choice is the grief at missing out. By choosing to do one thing, you forgo an alternate future. To choose is not just to choose once, but to choose over and over again. To choose is to stand by your choice when others question your actions. While others’ opinions about your choices do not always matter, there may be part of you that wonders “what if”.

Though it can be hard, making a choice is actually liberating. You are freed from the cloud of indecision. You can delve into a new world, and now have greater commonality with other people who made that same choice. Of course, you may make the wrong choice. Most choices can be undone, though it doesn’t always seem like it in the moment. Best to be strong and wrong, as my old jazz professor once told me (see Office Hours with Ben Goldberg).