On Dice and Decision Paralysis

This morning, I had some trouble managing my To Do list. I had two categories of tasks that were important but not yet urgent, and I had two categories of task that were urgent but not terribly important. I wanted to get all of it done, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do first.

I could have done the less-important, more-urgent tasks first, trusting that I'd have time to do the more important tasks later, or I could do the more important tasks first, knowing that, guaranteeing that I'd have enough time for the more important tasks, even at the cost of the less important tasks. I ended up wasting an unfortunate amount of time trying to decide which of these tasks needed to get done first, but I ultimately decided to roll a die to help me make my decision and get started.

Once I got started, my day went a lot better. I don't think it even mattered which task got chosen first. It was all a matter of momentum and of at least getting something done. When I was paralyzed with indecision, I could have stayed stuck there all day, but once I got a task started, it was easier to keep going, and I ended up getting two categories of tasks done today, and I'm all set to get the remaining two categories of tasks done tomorrow.

I guess the takeaway from this is that any step forward is better than not stepping forward for fear of taking a wrong step. Were the chosen tasks the best possible tasks for me to do today? Probably not, but it was good that I got them done, and I still have time to do more tomorrow. Doing any of those things was better than doing nothing, so letting the die decide was better than continuing to suffer from decision paralysis.

I'm glad I got a decent amount of good work done today, even if I'm not completely sure whether it was the best work I could have done.