Is what triggers a decision important?

 

I began to update my Goodreads account.  If you get your reading material from Amazon and read digital copies you get the opportunity to update Goodreads immediately after finishing a book.  I do get some books from Amazon.  However, I use the library for the majority of my reading material.  So to update Goodreads I have to add the books manually.  Doing it manually gives you a bit of time to "look around" the app.  What I am actually saying is that I tend to fumble my way around the app to find what I am looking for.  While trying to update my reading list I also realized that I had "friends" as well.  Not sure how I got these I am sure there had to be some type of request/approval process.  As I scanned my home page I came across a book that a friend had rated, so I decided to give it a try.

I did not read any reviews and my friend had only "rated" the book.  So basically I decided to read it based entirely on the title of the book.  I wrote a blog on reviews previously.  In it I wrote about my surprise at the negative comments regarding the book I was interested in.  In spite of the negative comments I went ahead and purchased the book and read it.  So I got the book from my on-line library and began to read it. After reading the first third of the book I did have to go back and check to make sure I had got the correct book from the library, I did have the correct book.  I went to good reads and checked the synopsis and confirmed that I had chosen the book for the correct reasons.  The book was The year of less by Cait Flanders.  The reason I chose this book was that I was interested in comparing my view of "clutter" with someone who actively decides to de-clutter.  I wanted to compare my seemingly inherent minimalist tendencies with someone who looked to the benefits of a decluttered lifestyle.  I quickly realized that this book had very little to do with the decluttering of the authors life and more to do with just about everything else in her life.  You can read the book for yourself and decide.

This book did not give me exactly what I was looking for, however it did interest me.  As I said I was hoping to compare my inherent minimalist tendencies with someone's deliberate decision to declutter.  I was curious about why the author made the decision to declutter and thus the bigger picture about why make a decision in the first place.  This is what struck me as I began to read Cait's book.  The decision to make a change.  What triggers the need for a decision.  The most obvious type of decision for this discussion would be making a change in ones life.  I am also looking at decisions or changes that are as much as possible influenced by direct external factors.  A 60 year old wins the lottery and decides to retire, would be an example of a direct external factor.

The New Year is traditionally the time to make changes on ones life.  Media in the month of January (as well as late December) is rife with items regarding resolutions.  There are news articles on how to keep resolutions and why you will fail.  Weight loss and gym advertisements fill the air waves.  It could be inferred that decisions revolving around New Years are externally triggered.  The onslaught of "New Year New You" sentiment is so pervasive that it is impossible to not think about lifestyle changes.  The only counter to all the weight loss media is that Girl Scout cookie sales begin in mid January (Ha Ha).  So it is possible that one way decisions are triggered is external.  This may explain why Stanley cups are suddenly the must have item.

Our decisions can also be internally triggered.  These can run from somewhat obvious: 

I had an accident and I need a new car, I decide to buy a new car.

to the seemingly random:

I'll buy a new car today (existing car runs perfectly fine), I just want a new car, I'm bored with my existing one.

The difference should be clear, in the first case the decision is the result of an event and the second is more of a whim.  At this point in writing this I began to struggle with exactly where I was going with this.  I was convinced that there was something important in all this.  With these ideas rattling around my brain I just could not see the end point.  I reverted to several tactics to clarify my thoughts.  I jotted notes in a notebook, I went for a couple walks, I read, and searched online.  Nothing seemed to bring the clarity I desired.  I just kept at it until a thought occurred to me.

The importance of a decision may not lie exclusively in what triggers it.  The significance may not be in the actual decision but in what it reveals about how we value the resources that go into a decision and the results.  The extreme example regarding the purchase of a car due to boredom with the existing one discloses a very cavalier attitude towards money (especially if one cannot afford it).  Our decisions speak volumes about how we value our health, our responsibilities  and our relationships with others.  What triggers the decision may not be that important.

As Cait Flanders traversed her decluttering journey her way of looking at things evolved from a simple "do I need this item", to a more profound thought.

"Who are you buying this for: the person you are or the person you want to be?"