My 2-year-old daughter doesn’t say “maybe.”
When asked if she wants something, she responds with a clear, confident (and often defiant) yes or no.
But adults say maybe all the time.
Why?
Because we’ve allowed a bunch of other voices into our head.
We worry what will happen if we say yes.
We worry what others will think of us if we say no.
It’s not that 2-year-olds know what they want and we don’t.
It’s that they don’t let other voices outweigh their own.
BONUS BITS:
• In her excellent book Thinking In Bets, Annie Duke suggests poker is a a better metaphor for life decisions than chess because unlike chess there’s an element of luck in every outcome.
“You could make the best possible decision at every point and still lose the hand because you don’t know what new cards will be dealt and revealed.”
• Here’s how to make it easier to say no.
• Here’s what happened when Shonda Rhimes said yes to everything for a year.