How do we decide?

A question I was wondering about this morning while putting on my running shoes getting ready to hit the road as part of the “morning rituals.” Before that, I was doing habitually and routinely and mostly mindlessly a series of actions that I haven’t thought about questioning if I should be doing them today or not? Should I brush my teeth today? Should I put on a shirt? Or is it ok to skip? When did that become a habit anyways? And most importantly, how and why?

While each of these questions could take a full-length book to explain and explore. I like the simple summarization that Seth Godin writes about in post named Cognitive load is real

Below is a snippet from this post with a thought-provoking checklist that helped me do a maintenance update. Review and see if my drives to actions are valid, or we need to make some changes.

Here’s my list, in order, of what drives behavior in the modern, privileged world: #

1. Fear
2. Cognitive load (and the desire for habit and ease)
3. Greed (fueled by fear)
4. Curiosity
5. Generosity/connection

Try having this conversation today with yourselves, or someone close to you,
what drives your behaviors?