I’m sure that this thought isn’t original and I’m sure there is lots of philosophy and psychology on the subject, but I’ve come to the realization that there is never a decision you make that you don’t want to make.
Sounds a little weird but the deeper you dig in, the more you realize it’s true. Let’s take an extreme example. Say you won a billion dollars in the lottery. You are told that taxes on that money will be in the neighborhood of 37 million dollars. Do you think you want to give 370 million of that billion dollars back?
It makes sense to say no, and to some degree, it is a no. However, as we dig in, we will find that it actually is what you want to do. Not because you love doing it but because you find the alternative of doing it worse than doing it.
For this example, that means that you would rather pay these taxes because if you don’t you will likely get fined ever more and potentially lose physical freedom by going to jail. You would rather pay taxes than deal with the alternatives.
Let’s take a really simple idea. Say your deadbeat cousin calls up and says that they’re really struggling to put food on the table and could really use just like $20 so that he can buy dinner for his family. You might say, “now there’s an example where someone didn’t do what they wanted to do” but even this, you do it because you want to.
You may have begrudgingly given that money to your cousin but it’s because you would rather have a good feeling than the money that you decide to give them.
Every decision, great or small is made because you want to make it. I challenge you to prove me wrong.