Sleep on it, before any decision you make

In the last three years, I have had to make so many decisions on my own, from choosing my major, the college I wanted to go to, the job, and many, many other adult decisions. Many people have walked the same path, some time in their life at some point. So many choices and decisions that can change the course of your life.

From choosing the wrong major in college to deciding when to move out of your parents house, all these decisions can flip the plot of life  from good to great or to worst. 

When making so many decisions and having even more options and opportunities, it has dried up for us to compute all the data that we receive. I have experienced my brain malfunctioning and lagging, even with making the smallest decisions.  For example, until that day, I have hard time deciding what drink I wanted for my lunch, so I always let my friend order for me. Not because I can't make small decisions, but I trust my buddy for her excellent taste of choice and soda and lemonade both sound good. 

But I can not let my friend make the bigger decisions for me, like when would be the right time to move to a new city, or switch jobs.

When it comes to taking bigger decisions, I always prefer to Sleep On It. 

If you have never come across this phrase it means ‘to delay before making a decision’. This means to not make any fast decisions based on limited information. 

I have always been a big advertiser of this phrase but not only in a metaphorical sense but also in literal sense.  To actually ‘Sleep on’ that thought or decision can help you make the best out of it. 

When you first get a choice, be it for a new job and adventure sport, a vacation opportunity, or any other major or minor decision, you only see the positive side of it. 

It's only after you move on from the word of mouth to research then you realise the cons of the subject. 

Linking it to psychology, the Dunning Kruger effect is an excellent example. When a person, irrespective of its expertise and experience, comes across any task, they will assume themselves to be an expert in the matter solemnly based on their belief in themselves for achieving perfection. This peak of confidence is called Cognitive Bias.

It's only when they actually start studying about the subject they experience, rational thought slowly dipping into the Valley Of Despair.

Therefore it is important to move on from that Peak Confidence to the Value Of Despair before you achieve the Plateau Of Sustainability. And the journey is only possible if you wait out before making the decision and actually studying about the task given before jumping into it.

Another advantage to sleeping on it is that it gives your brain time to come out of the biases and the glitz and glamour. 

Let's understand that with an example of buying a car. You are interested in purchasing a family car, small and compact just large enough for your nuclear family, but that luxury car falls into your budget also but does not fit into a garage. How do you make a decision? 

You ask the sales person for their help making the decision. Now the sales person has to make you buy the luxury car because an expensive car is equal to higher commission, so they only show you the positive size of the brand new sparkling luxury car, when they themselves know the small family car would be a better option.

Now it is better to go and sleep on it and clear your mind before making the decision because at that moment you have been sold all the biased information so it is better to sleep on it before buying that car.

I hope this made my point clear. Or maybe if you sleep on it, you might get the point better tomorrow.