When you think of deciding, do you think of going toward the choice you decide on? I tend to and I think most others do too.

But if deciding is about going toward something we like, why can it be so hard?

The –cide in decide is the same -cide as in pesticide, homicide, and suicide — from Latin, meaning cut or kill. However much we think about deciding as going toward something we like, our language retains the hard part: cutting off or killing something we like almost as much.

In choices with obvious differences in value — like Steven Wright’s joke: ‘I’d rather be rich than stupid” — you don’t hesitate to cut off or kill the choice you don’t like. When differences in values are small, you have to cut off or kill something you like.

You have to say no to a lot of good things to have a great life.

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