Recently, like yesterday, I resigned from my job and took a new position at a school in northland, NZ, as Principal.
I was simultaneously offered another position at a school in the UK.
It was a dilly of a pickle. Which one of these great opportunities to go for?
Both of them offered a Hobson's choice - take what was offered, or walk away. My head and heart went to battle.
As you know, I'm a huge believer in Occam's Razor - the simplest solution is often the best one. And in the end the most sensible and simplest solution won out.
Having made that decision (finally), my wife and I found two properties we really liked in the area. Again - we faced something that all humans are famously bad at - deciding among multiple options.
Occam's Razor again came in handy. When I applied it, only one property was really fit for purpose in terms of being horse sport friendly for my wife. So we bought it.
Seth Godin recently added a third concept to my decision making armory - Wheeler's which.
As he points out -Wheeler's which* teaches us that the answer to "one egg or two?" is usually 'one', while the answer to, "do you want an egg?" is usually zero.
In my case, it wasn't a case of, "Do I want a fresh challenge?", rather it was, "Which challenge do I want?".
*[Elmer Wheeler was a sales trainer nearly a century ago. He got hired by a chain of drugstores to increase sales at the soda fountain. In those days, a meal might consist of just an ice cream soda for a nickel. But for an extra penny or two, you could add a raw egg (protein!). Obviously, if more people added an egg, profits would go up. Wheeler taught the jerks (isn't that a great job title?) to ask anyone who ordered a soda, "One egg or two?" Sales of the egg add-on skyrocketed.]
