How To Choose The Right Answer In A Multiple Choice World

A past memory brought me front-and-center with my present — and it was time to make a decision

Recently, I was weighing the pros and cons of a major decision.

Attempting to remain impartial and view the information I’d gathered from a neutral perspective, I soon found myself in a repeating loop, asking myself the same questions without arriving at a good answer.

What will it cost in time, emotion, and money — and which is more important?

What if it doesn’t work out — and what’s the worst that could happen?

What are the other options and alternatives?

It’s that last question that always took me off track, circling my overstressed brain right back to the starting point.

Because there were simply too many possibilities — too many other choices causing doubt and confusion, ultimately preventing me from recognizing what my subconscious already knew was the right decision.

Here’s an example that helped me make sense of things:

I remember taking multiple choice tests in school, typically consisting of a series of questions offering a variety of possible answers. I had a love/hate relationship with this type of exam.

Most of the time, I managed to get a decent score, because rather than knowing the correct response — typically plucked out of thin air from my occasionally unreliable memory — it was easier to theorize that the best way to choose the right answer was to eliminate all the wrong ones.

So it stood to reason there had to be a few incorrect answers in the mix — if only to keep me honest about studying the material — which made it easy to reject them quickly.

But occasionally, even though I already knew the right answer — so sure of myself that I couldn’t take my eyes off the words — I didn’t trust my instincts.

And instead of listening to my gut, suspicion and doubt got in the way, tempting my mind to consider inaccurate and misleading choices.

I told myself it might be possible the other “wrong” answers could be relevant to the question, my brain wrestling with the idea that many of the other choices contained just enough of a partial answer to be considered a possibility — in an attempt to confuse and misdirect.

And this may have been true.

But the point of making a decision is to determine the one that’s most appropriate, most true, or most likely to be the best and most correct response.

The test example is, of course, a metaphor for life.

Because every day we’re faced with making decisions. And sometimes the selection of answers isn’t that great.

While we may attempt to convince ourselves the major decisions in our lives are already carved in stone (where we live, who we marry, what career path we’ve chosen), the truth is, every one of these choices can be changed — at any time.

Especially if we’re unsure.

And that’s where fear and confusion come in.

How are we supposed to live balanced, fulfilling lives if the nagging uncertainty of having made wrong choices is constantly hanging over our heads?

Stay with me — it’s about to get real.

Right now, you’re reading this article. You chose to click on it, do a quick scan, and dive in. But you could change your mind at any point — even right here.

And if you did, would not knowing where this leads to be okay?

If you’re even the slightest bit uncomfortable with that question, it’s a good sign. And if you have the curiosity to hang in there, it’s probably an indication you’re willing to consider there might be something to this — some intangible secret that can help you solve a problem, answer a question, or put those anxious fears to rest.

Because we all have doubts, and questions, and anxiety. If you don’t, you’re living a perfect life, and I’d like to meet you.

So here we are, juggling the thought of whether the way we’ve been living our lives is the result of conscious choice — the best options, at least to us — or happenstance of default to a less-than-satisfying solution.

Maybe this will help …

The decision process is going on all the time and, usually, there are multiple choices to take into consideration. Your priorities will be determined by your own personal goals, desires, and life purpose.

We can’t change past choices, but we can influence the present. Time makes no judgments. It simply passes, in whatever manner you choose.

Lives are lived the same way — with one important exception.

We can’t modify, redirect, or alter time. But we can do all of those things to adjust the direction of our life path.

“Choose wisely, grasshopper.” Master Po, Kung Fu

© 2020 Jill Reid. All Rights Reserved.

Jill Reid is the author of Real Life: We breathe, We sleep, We eat … And in-between, We Live

Jill Reid is the founder of Pathway to Personal Growth and author of Real Life . Her books and articles explore life, happiness, self-improvement, health, productivity, relationships, and personal success strategies.