Indecisive? This Tip Will Help.

In a moment of desperation, yesterday evening I texted a friend who's a professor at another university.  My message: "Well, it's 6:45 and I've graded 0 minutes today.  Fail."

Moments later she wrote back, "Also 0 minutes.  Aaaaahhhhhhh!"

In my defense, I changed the sheets on all the beds in our house, which has to count for at least one check in the day's productivity column.  In her defense, she cleaned her sink of dirty dishes and watched three episodes of Downton Abbey on Netflicks.

Sometimes a human simply cannot function beyond this on a Sunday.

As we fired texts back and forth debating the cost-benefit analysis of starting to work versus throwing in the towel for the remainder of the night, she sent this gem of a text:

"I should decide one way or the other and live freely in that decision rather than sit in this purgatory I'm in now."

That simple one-liner stopped me in my tracks because it offered something that had eluded me: the permission to make a firm decision.  I could choose to work.  I could choose to not work.  I didn't have to hover in that painful middle realm where I continually thought about grading without actually grading, which doubly fails because I neither make progress on work nor gain rest from it.

Decide one way or the other.  Live freely in that decision.

That might be the best advice for getting unstuck that I've ever received.


As for her suggestion that I, too, should start watching Downton Abbey?  Well, that might be the best advice for how I can get stuck more often in the first place.

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9 comments

  1. What a wonderful nugget of advice. How often do we torment ourselves over what we should or shouldn't be doing?! Wouldn't everything be that much MORE enjoyable if we committed to the decisions we make?

    Loved this advice Robin and pinning to my Deliberate INSPIRATION board.

    Wishing you a lovely week, no matter how you choose to spend your time.
    xoxo

    PS - Downton Abbey is definitely worth watching ;)

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    1. A silly side note, when I went to pin this on my Deliberate INSPIRATION board, I accidentally clicked Deliberate DESSERTS. Make what you want of that....

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    2. Love it. I'll simply take from this that you thought the post was sweet. ;)

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  2. Love it, Robin. Either decision is OK . . . just decide and stick with it. So many places to apply that.

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  3. Oh boy, I am the worst at hovering over decisions! I am so indecisive. It drives me (and my husband) crazy! I have been trying to be mindful of it and let my yes be yes and my no be no. I think I am going to be more conscious now of... living free in my decisions. Thanks for this! And I watched Downton Abbey this weekend. It's like eye candy;)

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    1. Oh man! Our family is normally rather decisive, but last week we were going to go out to dinner and the deliberation to choose a message was painfully long. (To our defense, this decision involved a 10 year old, a 7 year old, and a 5 year old, which lowers the threshold of effective deliberation sometimes....) :)

      Your comment has solidified it: I need to start watching Downton Abbey.

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  4. Haha I love it! I still have the final season to watch but waiting for it to go on Amazon Prime! ahh!

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    1. I hope it comes out for you on Prime quickly!!!

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