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© Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
I overheard a conversation, in a computer store. A mother had promised to buy her teenage son a game program. And the son could not decide which program he wanted. She said, "Superior people make quick decisions."
Incidentally, I think that considering oneself superior shows a kind of inferiority. It's certainly not a good thing to say in public. But, besides that, her statement is incorrect. Gary Kasparov is the strongest chess player in the world, and perhaps the greatest of all time. He sometimes moves instantly. But, he will sometimes think 10 min., 20 min., or a half-hour on one move. The amount of time you spend on a decision depends on the difficulty of the decision, and on the situation (Kasparov may be short of time). Pretend that you are solving a maze, in pen and ink. You do not want to mess up the nice maze book. So, you take minutes, or hours, or maybe days, to decide on your route through the maze. The decisions were difficult, but hardly important. You were not trying to cure world hunger or aids. But, the decisions required time.
The mother (superior) thought that her son's decision was unimportant, of course. And, mainly, that was all she was saying to her son. But, she said it poorly. Some of us would say, "I don't have time for this. Flip a coin, for God's sake." But, I'll bet that superior people don't flip coins, when making decisions.
As a checkers-by-mail player, a few of my decisions may take days or even weeks. And, I should have spent even more time on some of these decisions. Incidentally, I don't spend weeks to send one postcard, some of my decisions are made before the game takes place.