Options are dangerous

People think that options are awesome. One can choose to put in ketchup into their burger, one can choose the drink to go with one's meal, one can choose one's future career path, one can choose to be in that relationship, one can choose to do many, many things. In all of this, one cannot forget that one always has the option not to.

Options are dangerous. They give one the illusion that one is somehow in control, when all it does is give one the idea that it's okay to quit. When suddenly, there's the option of not doing something, one is setting oneself up for failure. With prosperity comes choices, with choices comes ennui, with ennui comes paralysis. Well, I suppose it isn't as simple as that, but I see it far more often than should be.

I read an article about being efficient and about being motivated and basically it comes down to, shut up, suck it up, stop complaining, and just do it. Why that's become so hard for many people is because they think they have the option of not doing it and so in their inaction, they choose not to. They drag out the inevitable and are unable to move forward.

Perhaps I'm just talking about myself.

Any at rate, if you had a choice to go to class at 8 in the morning to learn something enriching and to grow as an individual, or sleep an extra hour and go to lunch with friends and in general laze around all day, the very idea that going to class is an option suddenly allows for you to sleep in with this attitude of the gross misinterpretation of carpe diem and we briefly enjoy that hour of sleep (only, of course, to regret missing class and the learning that took place because of the extra studying required to understand a concept that could have been easily learned during class).

Basically, it comes down to thinking that we have the willpower to do things that we really don't have the willpower to do and having that illusion of an option just makes it easier to give up.

Now, does that mean that I believe in taking things to the extreme and saying that we should get rid of all free will or all options so that we become automatons that merely follow the will of whatever culture we're thrown into?

Of course not.

I'm just saying that certain things shouldn't be seen as an option. It makes the difference, in my opinion, between success and failure.

Btw, I'm pretty sure I was influenced by this article in writing this particular post. ^^