“Good decision making is not a trait of the person, in the sense that it’s always there,” says a social psychologist in the recent New York Times Magazine article on decision fatigue. “It’s a state that fluctuates.”
I agree wholeheartedly.
Writing Fire Monks, I reached a similar conclusion. But decisions are not just the product of one person’s exertion of willpower. They are a complex combination of individual will and everything else—all of the environmental, cultural, social, and yes, biological factors also at play.
We can all make “good” decisions—thank goodness—but whether we are deciding whether to satisfy a sweet tooth or to risk our lives, decisions are ultimately just decisions—best understood when we resist simply labeling them good or bad and focus instead on understanding a decision’s many interconnected branches and roots.