Surrogate decision making

I can never make decisions.

I particularly enjoy restaurants that have a limited menu because it significantly reduces the amount of time I need for making a choice about what I would like to order. I am afraid of places such as The Cheesecake Factory and Jerrys Deli. They have everything you can conjure up in your head. They extend you ten pages beyond the club sandwich and chicken ceaser salad. Yet somehow I always order the club sandwich.

I have a lot of dissonance about decisions. In marketing school they teach you about post purchase dissonance. It is when the buyer starts to rationalize and justify their purchase making by finding clues and evidence to back up their decision. I spend a good deal of time doing this. I ask people for their opinions and I read into street signs. The other morning I was making a decision based on a quote I pulled out of thin air about "we" and "me". A lady jogged past me and was wearing a tee shirt that read "Its about the "we" not "me" ". Case closed. If thats not a sign that you're on the right track then what is?

There is a possibility that selective attention has a lot to do with this. Its as if its Easter and I hid all the Easter eggs in my own garden and I am deliberately picking out the places to look that I know I will find the eggs. Im squealing with delight but really I knew the eggs would be there. Do you believe in selective treasure hunting?

So what do you do if you know you're being selective with reasoning and you want to find the truth? How do you know if you are making the right decisions?

I think there should be a place you take your decisions and submit them. It should be a box and look like a sweepstakes barrel. You write your decisions on little A5 pieces of colored paper. You label their urgency and category. You place a return address and you post it. You get to pick if you would like express mail or regular post (sometimes you dont want to see the "correctness" of your decision for a few weeks) There is a panel somewhere - TBA - that assesses and weighs your decision merit. It responds with feedback that gives you the truth about the consequences of your choice. You get a score (its out of 100%) and you will know for a fact whether you made the right choice. The closer to 100% you get the better your decision was. Lets just say you scored poorly, you get a chance to retake the test and make a different choice next time. If you choose expedited service maybe you even get to postpone making a decision until you can be certain you're aware you're making the choice with the best possible outcome.

The reason i like this quantifiable and qualitative way of measuring decision making is that it gives the decision making power to something else to handle. Oh have you seen that movie, "The Surrogate"? Is it a movie or a TV show? I really dont watch TV but I do see the posters and billboards everywhere. This Surrogate idea is ideal. Someone else lives your life. You get to tell them what to do and they take the weight of the responsibility for you. I think this is also a very good idea to couple with the decision making submission box. Perhaps the surrogate submits the decision on your behalf. That would be even better.

I need to make a decision. Life is too short to keep waiting for someone else to make one for you.