The Roots of Tough Decisions


We are in the middle of a bathroom remodeling project. There are so many possibilities, it's an expensive project with long-term implications, and I had never done something like this before, so I was having a tough time figuring out the layout. Though warranted, I realized I was struggling more than necessary because of 3 reasons: 

1. Not having clarity on goals and priorities. We wanted a better bathroom, but we hadn't really articulated and ranked our main priorities. When we decided that our main goals were a larger shower, access from the bedroom, and a larger vanity, it was so much easier to come up with options and rank them against the clear criteria. This simple and nifty trick has helped me with every major decision like picking jobs or buying a home.  

2. Not having clarity on constraints. When I understood that we couldn't place the vanity in a spot because of a window, or place a shower in another spot because of the low ceiling, it eliminated more options and reduced my FOMO. Constraints can be freeing! 

3. Not laying out all possible options and their implications. When I exhaustively drew out all the options and numbered them, it was much easier to do a pair-wise comparison and rank them. A friend also created visualizations, which really helped me understand the differences and feel more confident in my decisions. 

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