The Fox and the cat and analysis paralysis

Post Reply New Topic

"Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon."


The fox and the cat, the cat has one way to escape if the hunters come, the fox has many. The hunters come, the cat scurries up a tree, while the fox goes over his many options of escaping, only to get confused and caught by the hunters, while the cat escapes....

I dunno about you guys, but I have some serious problems with overthinking, and I'd rather be that cat and make a decision and go with it.....

Yes, too many options can paralyze me. Just LOOKING AT WHAT ALL THE OPTIONS ARE when there's so many takes a L-O-N-G time. I have a tendency to think that only ONE option, even out of as many as 1,000, is correct, thereby necessitating considering every single one of those 1,000 options!! Even though, in truth, probably at least 100 out of those 1,000 are acceptable so I only really have to look at about 50 (worst-case) of those 1,000 options.

Stores capitalize on this by giving the customers many options, keeping the customers in the store longer thereby giving them more chances to buy stuff on impulse.

Think about people with ads on dating sites. They have quite a few options. A prospect has this quality but lacks in that trait. Another prospect has this trait but is lacking in that quality. See? Faced with many options you're paralyzed and, not knowing which to pick, chooses none. Back in the old days the only requirement was that one is a man, the other a woman, and that's it. Those were the parameters you dealt with. Ah, life's gotten so much more complicated, hasn't it?

This affects me in a few ways, especially with having too many choices for food. Though I don't feel hunger, even having two or three meal choices puts stress on me to the point I can't choose and often don't bother eating altogether until someone else insists on it.

We all have to try to be like the cat, one decision, one action.......

I think doubt plays a large role, too much doubt makes you question that one decision, and then too much intellect makes you have 50 more potential solutions lol