When you feel stuck in a decision, the practical move is to stop trying to decide and instead do the next most obvious thing. Joe describes this from his philanthropy investing: instead of agonizing over whether to invest, he’d ask “What’s the fear I need to address? What’s the next step?” — do reference checks, call the people being served, investigate. The decision would eventually evaporate into a choice that felt like it made itself.
The key distinction is that the “next most obvious thing” must keep you focused on the problem without speed-bumping emotional experiences. It’s not avoidance (grabbing a beer, impulsively jumping to end the uncertainty). And it’s not looping (re-checking charts you’ve already checked). If you’re looping, you’re not doing the next most obvious thing — you’re avoiding it.
“I just looked up and was like I guess I didn’t invest there or I guess I did. And that’s how the world works — these big decision points just evaporate and they just become the next most obvious thing.”
Joe even suggests a fun experiment: while driving, instead of deciding where to eat, just see where you end up. Often life works this way — you follow the next obvious step and suddenly you’re there, without ever having “made the decision.”
Related Concepts
- Thinking you’re deciding means you’re in fear
- Binary thinking signals fear
- Fear limits optionality
- Every decision is an attempt to avoid an emotion