How to Make a Big Decision
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- čas přidán 3. 05. 2024
- What does Adam Savage do when he can't make a decision, and does he work differently when he's in someone else's shop? In this live stream excerpt Adam answers these questions from @Michael Schnell and @thedoctor4269, whom we thank for their support. What do YOU do when you have to make a decision?
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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman
Thanks for watching! - Věda a technologie
I flip a coin. If I don't like the answer, I do the other thing.
I can’t remember where I learned this, but it’s the very best way to make a gut check. As soon as that coin leaves your hand, you know the answer. So simple. So effective.
I do the same
Yeah, but if you wait till the coin has left your hand then you've already spent money. 😂
Hmm, I wonder if I should try this. Usually when I'm deciding on a thing I tell people that I'm "Running the simulation" I'll theorize what would happen if I do option A and then do the same for option B until I get far enough to get the pros and cons weighed enough to decide the better course. But then I usually also do the "Choose your own adventure book with your finger in the page" method to leave an out to switch to the other option if I don't like how things are going.
Could probably save some time and energy if I just flipped the coin and did what I always do without thinking about it so much first.
Same. I'll wait for a day. Then if the coin feels right, ok. If it don't, do the other thing.
A big moment for me was when someone pointed out that good decisions don't automatically lead to good outcomes. Just because something went wrong doesn't mean that the initial decision to do it was wrong. You can be unlucky; the parameters might change; maybe what you wanted to do just wasn't possible; it could still have absolutely been the right decision to give it a go. Don't beat yourself up just because something didn't work out. I find that understanding this helps to give me confidence when I'm forced to make a choice I'm unsure about.
My wife helped me get past that initial getting started phase. She pointed out that my desire for perfection was resulting in zero production. She’s also a teacher who noted that my failures were lessons. Just like my kids learning to walk, you don’t get there without falling on your ass… and these kids don’t give up so why should I.
Lesson from my old GPS.
My old TomTom was pretty good at giving directions. But if I was stopped at a traffic light or intersection, then the screen started spinning in circles. It couldn't tell me which way to go until I started moving. So I realize now, similarly, sometimes I just need to start moving in order to get some guidance and to know whether I'm moving in the right direction or not.
If I'm worried that a certain decision may not be the best, then once I start moving, my internal guidance system will help me recognize if it's a good direction or not.
One of my biggest roadblocks in the past as a maker has been analysis paralysis. Watching Adam make things and plow through decisions helped me do the same.
This. I often hit my roadblock when I tried to learn too much.
@@danielhall5554 I have chronic anxiety. I was diagnosed with this years back and learned to understand how it works. When your brain spins up, you consider all scenarios and even those on the periphery of the subject matter. It can be a real pain in the ass to clear all the clutter and get down to the basic requirement. But it's something I continue to manage and watching Adam work through forks in the road during his work process has been and is therapeutic.
I struggle with the agonizing paralysis phase more & more lately it seems, maybe due to the complexities of that initial starting phase. For some odd reason others are less forth coming with important information??? I feel like I have to play detective too much. However, once clear, it seems like a firehose that I cannot shut off.....
Guilty! 😅 any sort of seemingly important decision, and my brain immediately draws up both arguments, implications, long term consequences. It just runs away.
My biggest problem is options overload: Too many choices.
When the shop gets out of control with stuff out-I call it reaching "critical mass". I stop and set a time limit-say 10 minutes when I say I'll put away as many things as I can before getting back to work.
I try to sort specific objects. Everything that's in a case, all the power tools, all the screwdrivers.
When I worked at the metal shop, or the auto shops I would specifically clean along the walls when told to clean up since noone else ever starts there.
Lol. I do this with my house cleaning. Generally starting with the kitchen
While designing systems at work, I like to work on aspects NOT requiring creative decisions, and think about the ones that DO in my head.
One of my favorite ways to choose between two options is to flip a coin. Randomly assign heads to one option and tails to the other. Then simply flip the coin. If it lands on heads and you are relieved that it did, that was the correct option. The coin was right. If it lands on heads and you are disappointed that it did, then obviously the coin was wrong. You always knew what you really wanted; you were just never sure enough of yourself to admit that you did. But the coin forced you to admit to yourself that you did have a preference toward one outcome. You tricked yourself into making a decision. Good luck with the rest of your life.
May the 4th be with you, Mr. Savage!
great advice ❤
I think the other part is acceptance:
1. that you don't know everything
2. that it's ok to be wrong, and to go a different way when you learn something new
No, it's not ok to be wrong. It can be quite costly (in money and time and other resources) to be wrong. You try to avoid being wrong as much as possible, and it is not always possible.
It is acceptable to be wrong and you should not dwell on it. You deal with the damage and keep going.
@@GeneCashYou're both saying the same thing. Difference is the attitude, so try out the more positive one. You'll get the same results, but be happier along the way.
When I feel stuck on a decision and am delaying, it like to ask "what am I waiting for?" If I am waiting for something specific (a person to get back to me, a time to see something in person, finalizing a spreadsheet) I know I am still assembling the data I need. If I am waiting for something general (to know more, till I have a feeling, till I get clarity) then I am procrastinating and I either need to find something specific to do to move forward or make the decision with what is at hand. If you can't say what would be different in a week, then make the decision, it's not going to get easier.
Thank you for this. Paralysis in this state kills so many projects for me.
Nothing ever gets done without a deadline!
Ha…good one. I worked as a desk meteorologist where you had deadlines galore. Four deadlines for the general forecast, more often for specialized ones. Some perfectionists couldn't handle it. They quit or went for booze to cope.
True and there are always unexpected delays. Have milestones instead of dealdines?
This is generally true, but I have also started doing the "today's task is to progress the project" method. Even if it's 5 minutes done, or leads to more, at least it's been moved and it's staying in my mental RAM. Sometimes I don't even actively progress the project, but I thought about it and possibly realised the sticking point. Missing a deadline (even self applied deadline) can be discouraging, so I just focus on progress happening instead of the end goal.
Absolutely, I agree.
Very good advice. I often get stuck in trying to over know everything.
I've learned - once I know something I try that and be patient. Not trying to finish everything in one go.
If ENTIRELY over analyzing every tiny detail, while having 63,488 irons in the fire at any given time, were the main objective... I'd be a multi-billionaire!!
i've found that the clean up process is a wonderful time to think about what I've done that day and how I will approach the next day. not only am i cleaning the space, i'm also cleaning up my thoughts. this is fantastic for switching modes of thought from one situation to another (work to home, project to project, etc)
Love this Adam and taking it as helpful advice. Because small steps, and instincts, help when I have to make decisions based upon limited knowledge. Love it, sending positive vibes
I discovered some years ago that when I am in analysis paralysis, it's generally because there is no clear right answer. The pros and cons of both courses of action are roughly equivalent. And so I tended to keep digging deeper and deeper to try to find a clear advantage to one path or the other.
As a result, I spent the MOST time and energy trying to answer a question with the LEAST importance. So I learned to just pick one and move on. This has saved me SO MUCH brain damage, time, and decision cycles.
My biggest issue with making decisions, specifically design decisions, is often too many options combined with not quite enough information, and/or too much overthinking. I find that limiting my options by trying to do it with what I have on hand will get the ball rolling. Sometimes that leads to quick solutions, sometimes I waste a bunch of material and end up redoing it five times. But from a creativity standpoint, giving yourself some limitations, even arbitrary, can help focus in on what actually needs to be solved.
I am a strong believer in taking a step forward, but in a much smaller scale. For example, making a crappy paper model can give you a new perspective within just a few minutes. It gives you the chance to look at it from a different angel, gets your hands moving while you think, lets you explore your feelings, and often helps you confirm your hunches or ideas.
For those of us who have to fight against perfectionism, making something quick and dirty can be exactly what we need to relax and break out of the state of mind that tells us we need to know exactly what will happen at each step. It's amazing how much a thing of play-doh, a coffee stained pad of paper, and some used popsicle sticks can influence a large technical project. It's basically hands-on brain storming, which is exactly how many of us think. For me, it's also a relief to have a low risk way to stimulate my inspiration. I am always surprised at how many times it triggers a new idea that makes the entire project worth doing, more successful, and just plain fun.
Adam speaks truth to moving in a direction that you know. I work in field service, and i am fixing things that i quite often have almost no knowledge of. But if i can see a thing that needs fixing, then i do that. And quite often, even though i have very imperfect knowledge of what's actually happening or how the process works, it fixes the problem.
I am not good at my job because of what i know (it's a part) but i how i can get a customers equipment back in operation with very little understanding of the process they are doing, how it works, or anything. And a lot of that is just looking at the problem and asking myself "is there anything here i can fix right now?" And then going on to the next thing, and the next thing, until i am done.
This process works. And when you cannot tell what to do next, pick something and see what happens. Doing nothing solves nothing. This relates to my previous post, if you don't know what to do, do something. That something may inform you as to what you need to do next. And if it doesn't, try something else. Doing nothing is only really good unless you are in politics. In politics, the best thing you CAN do is not make it worse. And that often requires you to do nothing.
You don't know how much I needed this right now ❤️
Not so long ago I saw a good point which was to not think of a decision as a single point in time that you need to nail. Instead think of it as the first step in a ten-year (or other long-term) journey. This recasts things away from perfection towards progress, and also often defangs the intensity of the decision - yes, the decision is important, but i you let the timeframe under consideration go to zero, the effective importance of the decision goes to infinity, regardless of the original absolute importance.
one thing I like to mention is how when Jamie and him were tackling a project, they would each have a 2d representation of the problem that lies ahead, and working together they could interpret a 3d representation.
the same is true in life. when you're just leaving college, you'll know alot but you won't know all and you won't have the 3d representation of what you know, until you've had some field experience that renders in more information.
I'm loving these wisdom imparting sessions
For me, when trying to decide on a path of action, one of the things that I try to remember to do when I feel stuck is to stop thinking about the problem itself and think about the cost of being wrong. If the cost / impact of being wrong is small, then the choice can become simpler. Rarely is there a choice that the wrong path closes the door on the other so firmly that you can't just say "oops" and change course again.
As an example, if I'm trying to decide between buying tool A and tool B, if I buy A, B doesn't (generally) suddenly become unavailable, or vice versa. So the cost is really just the cost of a bit of time having potentially gone down the wrong path a ways, and maybe not even that if A will let me complete the job even if B would have been the better choice.
Even with higher risk decisions (which job to take, as another example), those decisions can be fixed if figured out before the other opportunity disappears. And even if it does, other opportunities will arise. The stakes and costs are higher, but typically speaking are fixable.
Even if you _could_ have a perfect set of knowledge with which to make a decision, you still couldn't have certainty of such perfection.
When I'm stumped by a 'This or that' decision, it's usually due to not knowing if I can go the other way, once I've made a decision.
By choosing to do *one* thing, I'm also choosing to not do other things.
On making a decision, I also sometimes struggle with making decisions. I guess we all do :-) Something that I have developed over the years is to think of decisions as experiments. I cannot predict all that will happen, the people I will meet, how I will feel about it and so on. It is an experiment. And that is the great thing about a decision: I get to have an experiment which will provide me valuable experience. That experience will help me with future decisions. And, quite possibly, that experience will be a good one! Sometimes I will feel proud of myself, sometimes I will have a great time, and sometimes I will just be relieved it's over 🙂
So maybe that can help someone: think of it as an experiment, and learn from it and enjoy it. All the best.
I think letting yourself have a space you can follow your messy whim can be healing and bring balance to when you have to apply strict clean up practices for a third party's space. But it needs to be paired with then giving time to the extra clean-ups that will then need, and grace for the fact it will look and feel chaotic by doing so. One of the best things I found for my adhd though was ensuring I could legitimately put away all of my things, which required two changes: less things, and improved storage. Improved storage has taken time, it has meant trialling placement of things, figuring out location, labels, tubs, drawers, etc and reflecting on the sticking points. If I have too much materials to be put away I need to sincerely assess if I need a stock that large, or if I'm just delaying starting projects for some reason. And until I can answer that I can't get more, because I will then be overwhelmed with decision paralysis by backlog of projects and go into avoidance mode.
Last bit hits. I’m trying so hard to be cleaner and pick up after myself in studio spaces that aren’t my own. But I certainly have my moments. It’s tough when you work big, because inevitably you end up with space that you need cluttered!
This is helpful information that applies way beyond the parameters indicated.
Much thanks from so many of us in need of a map that's drawn better than we've managed to render.
All great advice!! This will help me tremendously!!
The same is true with writing and film making. Very good discussion and thank you :)
wow. this is one of my biggest problems bouncing around with adhd in my home wood shop. thanks for covering this
In this vein, I recently had to choose between two jobs. I went with the lower risk option, because I need a certain security in pay.
It is important to plan contingency. Sometimes an impossible decision requires a step forward into the dark. Know that it is OK to be making a mistake.
But planning ahead for how to realise it is all going wrong, call a halt, and switch over to the other choice, can make that moment far more acceptable.
This is not about getting enough info to be sure of making the right choice. It's about exploring one of the options, with a special eye on evaluating whether it is working out or not. And if the other option subsequently proves equally bad, then it's time to dream up option 3! (My record was an option 5, that included elements of 3 previous "solutions".)
this video is so helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for posting this. It helped me make a decision about my career that I had been hesitating over.
"Failing Perfectionist" is my best description for my analysis paralysis.
Adam the advice you gave about decision making is invaluable. That was advice I needed also
I bought myself a pair of custom pretty dice that I keep with me. When I get decision paralysis for often the simplest of things, I just roll one and let it decide. Although for me it’s not lack of information but simply my brain freezing up and over analyzing where multiple options are acceptable.
Luke Rhinehart approves!
I so enjoy Adam's insights, it helps me tremendously and helps calm me down!!!!
I needed this advice. Thank you
A truly wise man has more questions than answers.
Always good information
That's a great take with the "amount of information". I really like that. Thank you! :)
I needed that decision making analysis today, thank you.
Embracing the law of diminishing returns has helped me make a lot of decisions where otherwise I might fall into analysis paralysis. Also understanding that there are missed opportunity costs to waiting too long. Often by waiting options are reduced, but sometimes the options that are no longer possible may be ones that are better than the option that remain.
Freedom is a dangerous and beautiful thing.
I've often not wanted to make a decision because I don't know how to undo it. Many experienced makers I've seen know how to repair it if it goes wrong. My biggest issue with this is painting.
I'm really enjoying our little chats, sure you talk and I listen but I'm cool with that.
Keep on going you can never stop learning gut instinct sometimes is good advise go with it too much can over power you to make decision. That’s also experience you get better the wiser you get you learn to do things different etc like the tidy things up
Sometimes just making a decision is even more important than what decision you take.
For example, if you have to decide to go left or right to reach a destination. You can bring out a map, figure out how long each way would be and so on. But this takes some time to do.
If you need 10 minutes to analyze which way is the shortest, but you you can judge that both of them are no more than 5 minutes in difference, than don't waste your time analyzing more details but start walking.
This also works for engineering decisions. Which is the best of two approaches to a problem? I don't know. But researching this question will take me way longer than just starting and seeing where i end up. For me, this works in many cases and applications.
That's the other end of the "If you have a hammer every problem looks like a nail." problem.
At some point it is just more economical to just treat things as a nail.
I can get ‘analysis paralysis’… It’s a way I dodge moving forward in some circumstances.
Sometimes I just have to ask ‘will it be a fatal error if I screw up?’ If ‘yes’ I don’t go forward and figure out what I really need. If ‘no’: I’m the Kool Aid man (gal).
I’ve stopped worrying about ‘doing it properly’ in my garden. And: my garden is thriving. As to my creative center in the garage…well…I need to just start creating. The only way to move forward is to charge on through. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be enjoyable.
I worked with a high end model builder on an epic feature when I started and HE was A DIRTY BUILDER, great guy tho, learned alot from cleaning up after someone else
I finally decided to watch this video.
Sometimes you do know everything and there is nothing more to know, but the options just are equal after weighing, so you just have to pick one
Excellent thoughts.
There are two perceptions of choices, and I always choose mine.
So many Aa -ha moments. Being a ADHD maker there are so many similarities. I learned early in the army as a truck mechanic to be organized with tools and workspace. As a building maintenance guy and maker Being organized has suited me well.
Action eradicates fear. When you get stuck, just make any decision, trust yourself to sort it out but act.
I've had clients get frustrated with me when I "ask too many questions" but I had experiences where not asking questions led to weeks or months of work being scrapped because of moving forward with insufficient information.
"...polishing a turd for some one else's crappy [whatever]..." is my life story and escaping the nightmare my life's dream.
1st answer reminds me of Gandalf getting stuck at a crossroads in Moria. "When in doubt, follow your nose."
Exactly what i was thinking! 😅 just solid advice
I'm a programmer, and here's how I make decisions on something I'm not sure about: do the simplest thing that works and satisfies current needs, then as time passes I'll naturally gain more insight, and it will be obvious what needs to be changed
Sometimes you make the right choice. But sometimes you have to make the choice right. It is also possible to make no mistakes and still loose. That’s life.
Between my ADHD and "Analysis Paralysis" (I like how that rimesis), I frequently end up chasing the boundary of the Dunning-Kruger effect until I feel I have pushed back the boundary of ignorance far enough to not feel (mentally) constrained and can comfortably move about in my circle of knowledge. Then a simple cost-benefit analysis will usually help me find the right answer.
Analysis paralysis is an issue for people who are analytical and like to plan ahead. When you have options, you tend to over think the optimal choice in the future SV the best choice NOW. I have a 1880s house I Am renovating. It needs a lot. Do I do electrical? HVAC? OR do I do each room? Where do I start? What rooms are the most important? I forgot the big cog for all of it. The truck I bought to haul supplies needs work. Why am I looking at the house when I cannot trust the method by which I pick those supplies up? So..... I have plenty of projects that can be done to the house for free. Gotta fix that truck first.
One of my favorite things to do to make a decision is flip a coin. If you start to desire one outcome more than another while the coin is in the air, you have your answer. If you still don't have any desire after you look at the coin, just do what the coin said. Either way, you'll find your answer and not take much time. Even have a special coin I save to flip for things.
I have a few tactics I use when unable to decide. Clean up the shop and then do what I can to work around the edge of the project. Often the answer will just become apparent once I just back off a bit. The other tactic is to consider the risk involved in the decision. How much time and money is at risk?
8:12 - I like that "present me" idea. I heard it first from SuperfastMatt, though his use of it is usually "That is a problem for future Matt".
Leadership boils down to the ability to make a decision. Good or bad, a decision has to be made. And if YOU are the leader, then YOU must make the decision. The trick is to realize that even a bad decision is a decision. Whereas no decision is just that, no decision.
Better to make a bad decision than no decision. Flip a coin, pick one, or whatever, make a decision. I make a lot of decisions, some good, some bad. But at the end of the day agonizing over making a decision just adds stress to your life. Pick and let the chips fall where they may. You will survive making a bad decision, i am living proof of that! ^-^
I always found it was best to pick the worst possible solution in order to keep moving forward so when you figure out what to really do you'll feel much better about throwing away all the work you did on the worst solution :-).
My current situation is problematic because my home workspace is quite small, about 6'x8' all told, including storage, dogbed and door. My actual table/bench is 22"x37" and is literally in the middle of my home. A lot of what I do is bigger than my bench so I do it outside and am constantly looking for tools and going in and out to find things. I'm moving soon to where I can set up a bigger space to work in. And that is going to be interesting. For reference I live in a 25ft 5th wheel with a 4yo female AmStaff and I'm 6ft+, 250lbs. Will be moving my workspace to a 10x20 portable garage this weekend!
When I am at work & finish for the day, I always leave it as clean as it was when I arrived if not cleaner. I do not leave oily handprints all over the equipment. If I were to my coworkers would give me hell back in the day. “Jay **** Seal of approval” is what we would call it. As soon as I get to my van, my tools go in, often quickly & disorganized. I do battle that constantly. It’s the both sides of our coin. The Face that everyone sees vs the tails side that not many see.
My workmates have been known to leave my tools strewn across the shop before I started padlocking my toolbox. The bench next to mine has been unusable due to a fuser unit having been dissembled all over it for several months...
My solution to misplacing a small tool like a mechanical pencil or safety glasses or a ruler is to have _lots_ of them. These tools are relatively cheap, just have so many that you can quickly find _one_ even if it's not the one you just set down.
This advice is huge!
Sometimes looking back at a few notes I jotted down from an earlier decision helps me but yeah I can still get stuck trying to think of every plausible outcome. Often times it's just trying to buy something and trying to wade through the online junk or deciding do I need the best or will the average quality item work just fine.
This is excellent advice. The more you know, the more you know you don't know!
Of course, I also use the Magic 8 Ball.
Mr. Savage, life coach.
When I'm paralyzed, facing a zillion things that (mostly) do need to get done next, I ask myself: what would a really good girlfriend advise? The answer comes rapidly and clearly. It's pretty amazing.
Perfect timing for magic 8 ball!
I am enjoying your channel. You said spiritual a lot, and i thought maybe Revelation 4:11 kjv might be your type of spritual. The ultimate "maker". I try to apply Proverbs 3:5-6 kjv for direction. Thank you for the entertainment of mythbusters and continuing to on this channel.
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." 🎵🎶
I analyze the risk. Can I afford the time or the resources to screw it up and do it again a different way? Many times that is how I learn. Rarely, I get it right out of the gate. It has happened, just not as often as I would like.
Mistakes are where happens the kind of learning you cant learn in books. Minimize catastrophic mistakes and youll find the regular ones pile up, get fixed, and make you much much more learned than your "perfect" peers. They help you be conscious of the right ways, the whys of those right ways, as well as discovering new better right ways.
Can't believe I won't be saying "They are _weirdly_ meditative." along with Adam at the end of each video anymore.
i've decided that not making a decision is a decision but i can't decide if it's the right decision.
Great video sir
Know the fundamentals, everything else is detail oriented.
It goes up and down or around and around.
We have about 15 people in and out of our shared woodshop and nobody seems to want to take out the garbage. There’s been other issues with tools and sawdust but the garbage is really bothering lately because I repeatedly took out the garbage when I hadn’t been putting anything in there. I use a lot of really nice hardwoods and I save any of my scraps that are larger than a quarter. But people keep putting large sticks and things that make it awkward to move and I do wish they would chop them in half first. People often throw out wood that I wouldn’t and I would even go as far as to estimate that I’ve salvaged more wood from the garbage than I’ve thrown in there. So do I be the better person and keep taking out the trash for other people that won’t do it?
I think that as a person you need to learn to be strategic and to be strategic you need to know how to make plans and analyze them and then apply an outcome...
This was gold
Any advice for project storage? So often I'll get deep into a project and then have to stop because I'm missing some part and need to put the project on hold for days or even months, meanwhile I'll work on something else but have the old project still occupying work space. I need a good way to store those in-progress projects that allow me to protect it and come back to it without having to deconstruct all the parts for the sake of storage.
pillow cases
Somehow cover, wrap, or box up the parts to protect them and keep them clean. Label things and leave yourself notes about details that are fresh in your mind now, so that you won't forget or have to rediscover something when you return.
Keep your small parts/fasteners organized rather than just tossing together. Even if you choose to leave the main part(s) out, boxing this small stuff up ensures that you won't lose any bits.
what do you do when you know what you want to do, you discuss it with your spouse and they say go ahead and when your about to pull the trigger on doing said thing. Your spouse gets mad because your attempting to do what they said you could do. What do you do then?
Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Constantly. Most often. But it takes experience to recognize those times when perfection, or the pursuit of it, is necessary and will have a true impact and a meaningful return on investment.
We have TNG’s picard as tv dad, but we have adam as internet dad with advice
Eenee meenee minee mo. Or a 10 minute break to reset again. I get blind to what I’m doing at work sometimes.
Perhaps a different situation, but when I find myself with a hard decision, I assume that whatever I decide will be wrong. Which wrong would I rather be? Which wrong can I defend as the best choice under the circumstances?
Do the opposite bro.