I must say something about the how of making decisions; the traps and avoidance-possibilities. And let's find out when decisions are actually made. I believe there are always previous decisions that led you to need to make any present decision.

We tend to think that decisions are made "on the spot"; when faced with the cusp, that is: when things will go wrong if we don't do it. I want to point out how much earlier most decisions are made, and how subconscious or unaware we are at those times. Also, perhaps we simply avoid decisions by procrastinating the time away before we let ourselves become aware!

Let's take an instance of driving the freeway, aware of the crowd of cars, competing for space and advantage. Is that the point where the decision is made on whether to change lanes? By asking you, of course, I've telegraphed that the answer is "No". There was a previous decision, as well as many factors that are subliminal ("beneath the light").

Thus: "Do I want to go faster?" That, strictly speaking, is just a matter of preference, at least up to the legal limit. Corollary: if your speed effects a nearby small-minded driver to speed up as well, you are responsible for the added danger he presents everybody else.

"Do I need to go faster?" This is a matter of fact, at least at that time. No opinion involved. A related question: would a faster speed, when averaged over a hundred times, get you there any sooner? A single accident can take an entire day from your life. Or your life. It would take a lot of lane changes, each giving you an advantage of five seconds, to make up for that. Add to that the time taken to wait for the patrolman to write out your ticket, and the time it takes to earn the money to pay it; or to pay the hospital bills; and, at the very least, the extra gas stops.

So is it just a decision at only that time? Not at all; there was a previous decision: is there another way to get there sooner? To some extent, this decision goes back to childhood! You have a habitual level of awareness that is a balance of many effects. This includes self-image: "I'm just not very good at making plans", "I just didn't think", "Oh, there I go again!" As we know, these stataments are self-perpetuating; creating a habit of unawareness.

A previous decision-time was over breakfast, when you might not have dawdled over the paper, seeming unaware of the hurry it would cause later. Seconds may seem precious on the freeway, but they're no smaller at the table, where you spent them so easily. But let's not seem hyper here, a liesurely breakfast is fine... if you take the same decision to an even earlier time. Wake up earlier, throw away less of that time the night before; it was wasted on TV anyway.

Other than the childhood-habit decision about awareness-level, is that the earliest previous decision? Nope. What other decision did you make that determines your commute-time? Right: distance, measured in kilometers and average traffic congestion. Who was it that decided to live so far away, or take that job that was so far away? If you're unhappy with commuting, you might make it more acceptable now with a review of that decision. If it comes out the same --that you still want the distant house/job-- then you're more likely to accept the commute; you've just said it's worth it.

Consequently, the decision to continue to do anything is remade every time you do that thing! Do you do it again? Was it wise? Did it turn out well? Is it reflective of who you want to be? (Is that image the reflection you want to see?) Is its influence on others beneficial?

Then: if the answer to any of the above was "No", do you want to (or can you) undo it? Can you apologize; can you retrieve it, fix it? If it's impossible to fix this occurance, how will you see to it that you remember to do it in your newly preferred way?

Actually, we're faced with more decisions every day than commercials! And you know how many commercials we're hit with; and we can simply ignore them. Decisions must be made--at least by default. There must be more decisions than commercials because every commercial gives us several decisions all by itself: to ignore it, to see/listen to it, to talk about it, to buy the product, etcetera. These are such small decisions, we hardly notice. Imagine putting on a resume that you've been responsible for X million decisions per day! And it's true.