Decision Making, Buridan's Ass 🐴, FOMO and the Rabbits 🐇

You probably have heard before about:

The Buridan's Ass 🐴 Paradox:
It's about a donkey that is equally hungry and thirsty and is placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Since the paradox assumes the ass will always go to whichever is closer, it dies of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision between the hay and water.
A common variant of the paradox substitutes two identical piles of hay for the hay and water; the ass, unable to choose between the two, dies of hunger. 

FOMO - Fear of Missing Out:  which according to Wikipedia is defined as a fear of regret, which may lead to concerns that one might miss an opportunity for social interaction, a novel experience or a profitable investment. It is the fear that deciding not to participate is the wrong choice. 

 Saying or Quote by Confucius: "The man who chases two 🐇 Rabbits 🐇, catches neither."

One assumes that the Donkey or the Man wants two things just as badly. But just as well could more than 2 things that one could wish for.

Primarily it's about having at least 2 choices, options or alternatives from which to choose from and how one decides between them?

You probably have been in the donkey's place more than once.
How did you decide? Did you wait too long and lost the both opportunities?

Let me give you some Ideas that might help you to re-frame, look at from different angles and improve the quality of your decisions.

Simultaneity vs Sequential. The implicit assumption when hearing Donkey Parable or Rabbits chase is the one wants or must have both choices at the same time. 

What if  instead being mentally trapped by simultaneity you could chase the Rabbits in a sequential manner, one after the other?

Same - Similar - Substitute.  Beside Simultaneity, other implicit assumptions are:

There is only one kind of rabbit, hay stack;  

Is must be the same Rabbit, hay stack that one catches / eats;

Only the Rabbit / Hay stack can satisfy his hunger.

What if we could have a similar rabbit / Hay stack ?What if we were to substitute the Rabbit / or the Hay Stack for a different type of food that would have a similar or greater nutritional value?

Strategy & Tool Stuck vs Strategy & Tool Flexibility.  Many times we want to Do, Have or Achieve 2 or more Goals in a narrow window of time, but using the wrong or inappropriate strategy and tools. 

Since it doesn't work we tend to conclude that either it's impossible, it can't be done, we're stupid,  we're a failure and so on. We'll likely feel frustrated, depressed, stuck, hopeless.

What if instead we were to experiment with a different kind strategy or tools that would increase our chances of success?
What instead of doing it alone we would build a team?
What instead of wanting to lift on your own 10 weights (around 2 tons) you would use a lever or a crane?

Greed vs Temperance.  To often we are driven to want more and more that we actually need to survive, thrive, be healthy, happy. Why do we do so? It's discussion for another time encompassing many aspects,

But what if we could have a moderate approach?
What if we could satisfy our hunger with just 1 rabbit instead of two?

Location Trapped vs Location Free. Another implicit assumption is that we can catch the Rabbits only in that one location / forest. 

What if we were to look for rabbits / hay stack in other places?
What if for instance instead of being trapped on the position offered by this company you were to look at other companies too?

Goals and Results Considerations.  Often we are stuck in deliberating which strategy to use to make a decision about the choices (A, B, C, D...) we have. 

What if instead we would ask ourselves: What is the Goal here?
What are we aiming at? What result are we after? 

Motivations and Reasons Explorations. This is similar to the previous point yet I put separately because it has different implications and it will help you look at decisions from an alternate perspective:

So Why are we chasing the Rabbits? or Why do the donkey want the Haystack?
What motivates us? What's the reason(s) behind our action?
If one chases rabbits to sell them for money...How else could we make money ?
Or What else could we sell to make money?

 

Turn FOMO on Itself. Usually we pursue 2 or more things at the same time because we are afraid of losing something tangible or intangible. But too often we fail to realize that in the end we'll most likely lose all! As the quote says: "The man who chases two 🐇 Rabbits 🐇, catches neither."

So what if we would consider: Given that there's a greater probability that I would loose both rabbits in the end wouldn't be preferably to lose just 1 instead of 2?Would I like to remain with 1 rabbit or 0 (none)?

Create NEW, Additional Options. By default many of us tend to get stuck only to the choices that are offered or available to them at a given point in time.

What if instead one would make a deliberate effort to look for or create new alternatives, choices or options from which to choose from?What if instead of 2 rabbits one would have 5 rabbits?What if one would have a rabbit and tortoise to chase or choose from?

Do you have any other ideas or perspective regarding this issues?

I welcome your constructive feedback!