How to Approach Big Life Decisions

Your 20s are a really interesting time of life. There are so many decisions to make that can shape the trajectory of your future:

I think all of us face one or more of these big decisions. From my own experience, it is not easy to choose. You can get lost in endless “what if” scenarios and struggle to reach a rational conclusion about what you actually want.

If that sounds like you, try one of the approaches below the next time a big decision comes up.

Write out, in as much detail as possible, what the outcome of each option would look like in the optimal case.

For example, if the decision is whether you should do an internship, describe what your life would look like if you did the internship and what it would look like if you did not, assuming everything goes perfectly.

Internship (optimal case):

“I get staffed on an interesting project. I get to travel to the client. I get to present my work and take on responsibility. My team is great and supportive.”

No internship (optimal case):

“I use the time to learn a new skill. I do a lot of sports and eat healthy. I start my own business and get my first clients.”

After you have done that, look at which “optimal plan” excites you more. That is often a good indicator of what you should choose.

When I was talking to a friend about whether I should accept a job offer, they asked me an important question that caught me off guard:

“Would you do it for yourself, or just for other people’s approval?”

It made me realize that a big part of my thought process was about what other people would think if I did it. I was probably spending more time thinking about that than about what I actually wanted.

After that realization, I made sure to prioritize what I wanted in my decision-making process.

At the end of the day, decisions often seem bigger than they are. An internship can be ended early. A major can be changed. You can move cities.

Very few decisions are truly irreversible, and we probably overestimate the long-term impact of the choices we make.

For example, I chose to study finance at university, and yet most of what I do now is data-science related. I found a way to make it work, even though I could have used my major as an excuse to never even try to get into tech.

Remind yourself that even if you feel like you made the wrong decision after some time, it is almost always reversible with minor consequences. That can help you sleep better at night, without the worry that you made a life-defining mistake.

I recently watched these documentaries on YouTube:

They were some of the best documentaries I have ever seen, and they motivated me even more to pursue data science and machine learning. Definitely check them out if you are interested in AI.

Have a great week,

Chris