My computer crashed months ago. And, by the mercy of Allah SWT, I have taken many lessons from this event (writing fodder for articles to come I’m sure), but the biggest dilemma was buying a new one. Seriously, have you been to Best Buy lately?
I thought I would never get out. And while we deliberated on all the different options – laptop or tower? Mac or PC? Intel or AMD? HP or Dell or Sony or Acer or or or? – and my daughter became proficient in handheld video games and my son became best friends with the Geek Squad guy, I thought – Russia – pre-Perestroika – might not be such a bad thing. And if curiosity killed the cat, then the availability of options just might kill me.
And I’m reminded of the metaphor, “Buridan’s ass,” whereby a donkey is placed between two identical stacks of hay. Unable to decide from which one to eat, the donkey eventually dies of starvation. And the gridlock saga continues…
Behavioural economists tell us that we are afraid of making decisions because we’re looking for the perfect decision and what really constitutes a perfect decision?
How to decide? How to decide?
Those same behavioural scientists and psychologists will spew method upon method, but I need to make a decision, fast! How to decide?
From picking a shampoo to choosing a computer to replace your crashed on, here’s a good step by step guide to follow:
*****
Step 1: Pray Salat Al Istikhara (yes, this did necessitate more than one trip to Best Buy for me).
Step 2: Get in touch with your gut feeling. It’s easy to get bogged down in all the pros and cons. You need to tune out the droning of the “non-commissioned” salesperson (as a side note: why does he keep mentioning that?) and your own lack of experience in decision making. If intuition is defined as the accumulation of experience converted to flash-forward visualization, then how will you accumulate the experience, if you don’t start now?
“Yes, that one is looking good! The black tower matches my new, black LCD monitor!”
Step 4: Visualize the good, the bad, and the worst case scenario. Your answer lies somewhere in the middle. And if that answer is in cahoots with all of the above – then you are good to go. If not, you’ll need to go to step 5.
Step 5 (optional – only if you have yet to make a decision): Narrow it down to 2 and then play a game of “eeny meeny miney moe.” Or flip a coin. Personally, I like the former. And if you’re disappointed with the result, ask yourself why? I hate to say it – but if this is the case, you need to go back to Step 2.
If the ’it’ one makes you feel good – go for it.
Just keep your receipt, I think Best Buy has a pretty good return policy.
*****
And in the end, you have to realize that the harder a decision is to make, the more alike the options probably are, and, hence, the less it matters the decision you do end up making.
By 9 pm Best Buy closing time, I took out a decently priced, black tower, Intel inside Windows PC. And yes, that is the extent of my technical expertise. Do you have something to say about that? Because I’m good with it.
And so, part one of the computer crash chronicles concludes! Stay tuned for next week’s “CURSE YOU ROBOFORM!”
