James Clear Quote on Decisions and How Understanding If One Is Reversible Or Not Can Help You Decide

“If a decision is reversible, the biggest risk is moving too slow. If a decision is irreversible, the biggest risk is moving too fast.”

James Clear, Blog

Beyond the Quote (212/365)

Let’s start by figuring out which types of decisions are which. Not going to college, for example, is a decision that can easily be reversed. You can always go back to college at a later point in time. Going to college and getting a degree in something that you aren’t passionate about or uninterested in pursuing is a decision that is irreversible. Quickly committing to college when you’re unsure, undecided, or confused about your path is a big risk. Especially if the college you’re committing quickly to has a high tuition cost.

Not only are you risking your precious time during those years of study, but you’re risking a huge sum of money (possibly somebody’s life savings) that you will likely be trapped paying back for a lifetime after graduation. Furthermore, because of the pressure to pay off that debt, you’ll be forced to get a job in the field you graduated in (or worse, one outside the field you graduated in) and won’t be able to change your field of study to something more in alignment with your aptitudes, interests, or talents as a result. College is a decision that is best made slowly.

When it comes to relationships, deciding to date a person is a decision that can easily be reversed after the first date or two. Moving too slowly to get to that first date is more risky than moving too fast as somebody else might come along and beat you to them or they might get cold feet. Furthermore, it’s the first date that helps you decide which direction to go with a person more than anything else anyway. Deciding to have unprotected sex with someone you’re interested in (or not), on the other hand, is a decision that is irreversible. The emotional consequences, the STD risks, the possibility of pregnancy are all realities that can’t be ignored after that decision is made. Having sex is a decision that is best made slowly.

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Making big life decisions like moving out of state, experimenting with unconventional career paths, or traveling the globe when you’re single is reversible. If, after a major life decision, you decide that it wasn’t the right one and you’re flying solo, you can change your mind and go back to where you were before. No harm, no foul.

Making any of the aforementioned decisions when you’re in a relationship, have a family, or otherwise have dependents, however, is irreversible. It’s not just your life that your decisions are affecting—it’s the lives of those you’re intertwined with. And the affect it has on them is not something that you can change or undo. Major life decisions when you’re solo can be made quickly. Major life decisions when you’re not should be made slowly. If you act slowly on major life decisions when you’re single, the risk, of course, is that you wait until it’s too late and you’re not solo anymore.

When it comes to making any major decisions in life, it helps tremendously to understand this principle of reversibility. Can the decision be reversed? Then act quickly. Is the decision final or have consequences that can’t be reversed? Then act slowly. One who understands this will avoid tremendous headache, suffering, and regret in life. Categorize and act wisely.

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