How Making Choices Can Change Your Life

Transcriber: Hao Dong
Reviewer: Maria Pericleous

Have you ever wondered

what the odds are

that you’re sitting right
where you are right now,

meanwhile, listening to this TED talk?

But not only that,

what are the chances that you are
precisely the person you are right now

with all your experiences,

all the people you know

and all the things you own?

If you do not totally
understand what I mean,

think about these questions.

Would you be exactly
the same person you are right now,

if you would have decided
to drop out of school after 10th grade

and move to Africa to work
with an NGO building wells?

Or would you know all the people
you know right now,

if you had decided to study
in another city, for example.

Or would you look
exactly the same way, right now,

if you had decided to put on
a different T-shirt this morning?

I don’t think so.

There is nearly an infinite amount
of different possibilities

of how your life could have
turned out so far.

And to make it even clearer
how many possibilities there really are,

I want to have you think
about this simple example.

If you had been able to make
one single decision

since your 16th birthday per day,

then you would already have
way over eight unique scenarios

after just one week.

After one month, you would already
have over 30 different scenarios.

And after one year,

you would already have
over 350 different scenarios.

The thing is, this example
is even hopelessly understated.

In fact, we do not only make
one single decision every day

but dozens of them.

It starts when you wake up.

Do you choose to hit the snooze button
or do you stand up right away?

The next decision comes right ahead.

Do you choose to scroll through your feed
for ten minutes and waste your time,

or do you choose to do a morning routine
that truly benefits you?

The same way, small and big decisions
are threaded throughout your day.

You see, my previous example
shouldn’t be labeled with days,

but rather with hours or even minutes.

I think you’re starting to understand
where I’m going with this.

If you think about it,

you would always have chosen
the most optimal option

for all the couple of years before,

then you would obviously be the best
possible version of yourself today.

I’m afraid, though,

that no one can really say
with full confidence

that they’ve always acted optimally,

and that’s totally fine.

If you picture all the possible scenarios
that you could have achieved so far

with your life-improving decisions
pointing upwards

and your life rather worsening decisions
pointing downwards,

where do you think you are
at this very moment?

What percentage of your potential
have you fulfilled so far?

I think most people will say
that they are at around 60 to 70 percent.

It’s not perfect, but two out of three
decisions are totally on point,

and every third decision
could have been done

a little bit better.

What I want to achieve with today’s talk

is to light the fire
in each and every one of you

to always thrive for making
the best decisions

for yourselves from now on.

You cannot turn back the past,

but you can make sure

that when you think about
this TED talk again in two years,

you can say, well, the last two years
were a really good streak,

I did significantly more
to improve my life

than in the two years before that.

Right now, there are about
infinite possibilities open to you.

One possibility could be
that you start your own startup

that is already worth
over ten million dollars

by the end of next month.

Of course, this scenario to happen
requires making a lot of right decisions,

but it’s definitely within
the realm of possibility.

Another scenario would be
that you, let’s say,

lose four pounds by the end of next month.

Again, this scenario is totally
within the realm of possibility

and probably way more likely
than the last one.

You see, you can achieve nearly anything

and all you have to do is set the course,

which scenario will happen
with your daily choices.

Now, there are two types of choices.

The first type of choices
are choices for goals,

where it’s not totally clear
what choices are the right ones

in order to achieve that goal.

These are usually goals,
but also luck plays a minor role.

For example, with our previous example

with a startup that is worth
over 10 million dollars

by the end of next month,

it’s not that obvious
which choices are the right ones

in order to achieve that goal.

I mean, one right decision

could be that you enroll
in a coding boot camp today

and then next week you meet up
with some brilliant Harvard students,

and then you get
one of the ideas programmed,

maybe you will have a startup
that is worth 10 million dollars

But it’s not obvious,

and I don’t even want to get into
those choices right now.

What I want to get into

are the second types of choices
we make all day long.

These are the choices where
it’s pretty obvious to all of us,

at least after a couple of minutes
of thought, what the right choice is.

For example, our other example,

with losing four pounds
within a week or within a month,

it’s pretty clear what we have to do.

We need to exercise more

and we need to eat more healthy food,

and overall probably
less calories than we burn.

So, when we have to decide whether
we take the stairs or the elevator,

it’s clear that we have
to take the stairs.

If we decide between eating
a burger or a salad,

it’s pretty obvious that we eat the salad.

It’s that simple.

And the same principle applies
to numerous other daily choices.

We should be kind to those around us.

We shouldn’t directly speak
what pops into our head,

but be aware of the consequences first.

We shouldn’t waste too much time
in meaningless activities

like binge watching and so on.

Just imagine,

that for the past couple of years,

you would have always
chosen the right option,

when deciding between this and that.

How great would your life be?

How much could you have improved yourself?

However, even in such apparent positions

where it’s pretty clear
which choices are the right ones,

we often tend

to go for the one that will lead us
to a worse me in the future,

instead of the one that will lead us
to a better me in the future.

This is mostly because oftentimes,
unfortunately, the worst option

is the one that is simply
more comfortable for us.

Evolutionists drilled into us that
we think that we survive the longest

if we always choose the path
of least resistance

and don’t waste any energy unnecessarily,

and as Neanderthals that made total sense.

I mean, it was much smarter

to order a calorie dense burger
from a fast food chain

instead of going for a hunt
and be probably killed by a mammoth.

Today, however,

we probably will not be killed
if we resist our urge

to go for the comfortable option

that is associated
with the most dopamine release,

but instead focus on the option

that will lead us
to a better me in the future.

We just have to force
ourselves to do that.

So how can we do that?

The first thing I would recommend
to each and every one of you

is to recall this picture
as often as possible.

It’s best to hang it over your bed
so you can have a look at it

in the morning when you wake up
and in the evening before you go to sleep.

And always remember, every day counts.

Every decision counts.

If you waste one day

by choosing the wrong option
instead of the right option,

you cannot reach your optimal potential

in the future.

Another thing I would recommend

to each and every one of you
is to keep yourself accountable.

That means, for example,

start filling an Excel sheet
with all the daily choices

and To Dos you have to do,
in order to achieve your goals.

For example, not hitting the snooze button

doing a good morning routine,

meditating, working out,
being kind to other people,

And then every evening
you go through your Excel

and you make a checkmark beside
every To Do you fulfilled.

By doing that constantly,
you build up more and more momentum

and at the same time
you would be frustrated

if you haven’t done your checks.

And the thing is,

those kind of choices are far more common
than the other kind of choices.

Those are the choices
we make all day long.

And by systematically trying

to put in more and more
of your daily choices

into that Excel sheet, and in the evening

always trying to check all the sheets,

you will improve yourself significantly.

By doing that, you will
already have achieved

the best result for 80 to 90 percent
of your overall decisions.

The remaining few decisions where
there is no default, correct option.

These are the choices that distinguish
the best from the very best.

And here I cannot tell you
what the right choices are,

because it always depends
on individual factors.

What tip I would like to give you
for those kind of choices

is that you always have to think about

which option will help you fulfill more
of your type two choices.

For example, when you think about buying

a brand new Mercedes or a used Toyota,

and you don’t have that much money,

it makes far more sense
to go with a Toyota,

because with all the money
you will have left,

you can make sure that you, for example,
fulfill your healthy nutrition goals,

and have enough money
for buying good quality food, for example.

But it’s also totally fine
to make the wrong decisions sometimes,

because, after all,
if you do it consciously,

this is what makes life
also so worth living

because it’s unplannable and interesting.

Finally, I just want you to make
more conscious decisions,

more right decisions, and that you
don’t waste too much of your time

with meaningless, unconscious decisions.

Thank you.

(Applause)