Ruth Chang’s engaging TED talk on hard choices helps to uncover a hidden power that we all have. That being that we all have the ability to create reason. But what is the significance of that? And why is it so powerful?
It’s where we get to stand behind our reasons and say, “this is who I am”.
Are all choices equal?
In our minds, big choices are often equated to being hard choices. But Ruth highlights that small choices can be just as hard. And that they are hard because there is no best option. We weigh things up, we agonise over them, do the pro’s and con’s and at the end of the day each option is equally as good as the other.
There is the fear of the unknown, and of being ‘wrong’. So often we take what seams the be the safest option. In doing so we become a ‘drifter’ as Ruth terms it. Someone who allows the world to write the story of their lives.
When weighing up hard choices, we do this from a very science drive place. That there are only 3 outcomes, better, worse or equal.
But Ruth encourages us to think of a fourth alternative. Being “on a par”. If the options are on a par, then we create the reasons to do what we do. And when we create reason we become the person who we really are and the author of our own lives.
Alternatively, a clear and simple choice would lead to there being little thought being put into a decision because reasons are obvious. And so a world of easy choices would actually enslave us to reason.
Watch this 14-minute TED Talk to hear Ruth talk through this philosophical idea and see if you start to look at the hard choices in your life a little differently.
Want to watch even more TED Talks we have shared. Check them all out here.
