If you ask me about SEO-related issues, I can tell you some personal opinions, based on similar situations. In SEO, things are simple – there is a bunch of knowledge (ever growing), which you can use for your own specific situations. It’s the same with mathematics – I can prove some things based on previous experiences.
But in life, things are more complicated. When you vote for candidate X, you might agree to his/her political platform, party or personal preference to that human being. Most of the times, it’s a mix of several reasons, and the decision is not always well motivated.
I want to talk today about making a decision when the decision to be taken has not a clear logic behind it.
Gabriel Liiceanu has a book on the madness to think with your own mind. And it’s a correct title – if you only think logically, if you only want to have an impeccable demonstration, without caring for other factors like historical situations, your decision might look like madness.
Petre ÈšuÈ›ea has some aphorisms. Some of them are controversial, but most of them challenge the imagination – they make you think and wonder. But you also have a tendency to fight at least some of his sayings.
So, how do I view all these?
- If I find a shortcut in day-to-day life, I try to use it. For example, on the rotating doors, a lot of people walk on the circumference of the doors. I walk a straight line. Some people buy plastic bags whenever they go shopping. I carry my own textile bags with me.
- At my computer I keep my eyes open, trying to look continuously for solutions to improve day-to-day performance. That’s why I’m subscribed to Lifehacker. But, from time to time, I find life hacks on my own.
- When taking an important decision, like buying a large electronic equipment which will be used for years, voting, deciding whether to read or watch movies and other important decisions, I try to read as much as can prior to taking the decision.
- At times, I need to find a shortcut – I only have a limited amount of time to decide on which TV to buy, I need to quickly take a decision on voting, I need to buy a book quickly. In those instances, models, mentors, important people help a lot.
- I also build habits – always doing X in that way, going to bed roughly at the same hours, eating at the same hours, finding a good store to buying things from and then using that store over and over again.
- In the past, I used to rely a lot on models (I wrote about this in the past two years in 3 articles – 1, 2, 3). Now, I try to find top professionals in their respective fields, be them models or not (“elites” is a term by which Andrei PleÈ™u might agree).
- As a answer to the title, relying on external logic is often the first step. You need to learn some Maths before you bring something new to the table. You need to read some books prior to writing one. But the next step is thinking on your own / creating from scratch.
You might conclude, by reading this article, that each day I wake up and think for 30 minutes whether I should eat milk or almonds. Then for another 30 minutes on what’s the best place to put the fork on. Then for the whole day on what to vote at the next elections. It’s nothing like that. I have a lot of habits, and only a small proportion of my time is occupied with thinking on how to improve things. I’ve bought so many times from eMAG that now I can easily buy a TV. Yes, I do spend some time trying to improve a process or making an important decision, but these are the exception, not the rule.
