[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/give-more\/choice-vs-decision\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/give-more\/choice-vs-decision\/","headline":"choice vs decision","name":"choice vs decision","description":"I am grateful for the thought of a choice, versus […]","datePublished":"2026-03-30","dateModified":"2025-07-20","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/author\/algorithmlife\/#Person","name":"algorithmlife","url":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/author\/algorithmlife\/","identifier":1,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d9ce54bf7884db06c868d4c3d9f401d81cecc940d6403409642a6a34d06caa8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d9ce54bf7884db06c868d4c3d9f401d81cecc940d6403409642a6a34d06caa8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Person","name":"Dave Burnett"},"url":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/give-more\/choice-vs-decision\/","about":["Give More"],"wordCount":775,"articleBody":"I am grateful for the thought of a choice, versus a decision.\u00a0 I’ve always thought of them as interchangeable.\u00a0 Red or blue?\u00a0 Hot or cold?\u00a0 Up or down?\u00a0 I’m playing with the idea that they are different.A choice is small, not really consequential, and that you don’t really care about, and it doesn’t really matter.\u00a0 Should I eat with a small fork, or a large fork?\u00a0 The outcome will be similar and low consequence.A decision on the other hand, is highly consequential.\u00a0 Getting married.\u00a0 Having babies.\u00a0 Quitting your job.\u00a0 Starting a business.\u00a0 Those decisions are highly impactful, and you certainly care about the outcome.As I think about decisions, I realize the people who make the biggest most consequential decisions are leaders.\u00a0 Leaders, by definition, lead others towards some future outcome they care about and as a leader, you care if you make it or not.\u00a0 You care if you succeed.\u00a0 You care what people are on the journey with you.\u00a0 You embody the choice to make the world a different, and better place.\u00a0 You inspire those around you to make their own decision to follow you to create the future you envision.\u00a0 And that’s the magic of being the leader, with the vision of a new or different future.\u00a0 And by engaging amazing people around you, you can change the world.You can make the difference.\u00a0 You can create the outcome you want.\u00a0 If you can dream it, you can make it real.This also creates a problem for most people.\u00a0 Most people have been trained since birth to follow orders, not have a vision.\u00a0 To do what’s expected, not what’s different.\u00a0 To follow someone else’s plan, not to be a leader.So when asked to create a vision, most people just envision a future when they don’t have to follow someone else’s instruction.\u00a0 They envision a future where they are free.\u00a0 Free from having to show up at a certain time, do a certain thing, and be responsible for an outcome that doesn’t really matter.\u00a0 This is often called retirement.Retirement is one of my least favorite words.\u00a0 It creates a future where someone has given their all for a long, long time, done what they can to contribute to the machine, and are now discarded like a worn-out part to rust in the place where they settle.\u00a0 They are now of an age where they have limited future contribution for whatever reason, and they should sit on a beach and watch the sunset.I get a visceral reaction to this.\u00a0 It’s such a waste.These people, these experienced, wonderful people who have decades of life lessons are shunned off to the side and devalued.\u00a0 They become overlooked, and discarded, and this impacts their self worth.\u00a0 Their self talk.\u00a0 Their self respect.\u00a0 So they diminish even more until eventually their fire is extinguished.\u00a0 This saddens me so much.\u00a0 Not the end result, as we all pass away at some point, but the fact the entire process was built this way to use up people and discard them when we’re done with them.I don’t blame them for the result.\u00a0 Their outcome is a result of their schooling, their lessons, their training.\u00a0 Their outcome is inevitable because they’ve never been taught how to have a vision.\u00a0 Sure, lots of people have dreams as young people, then the reality of the system comes along and beats that out of them.\u00a0 Teaches them to conform and align, and to make what they think are decisions, but are really choices, about their future.Should I retire at 60, or 65?\u00a0 Is that a choice or a decision?Should I travel to Florida or Arizona in the winter to escape the cold?\u00a0 Choice or decision?My thought is they made the decision long ago to stop around a particular date, and continue their life on the path that was defined for them.\u00a0 It was so long ago they had a vision for themselves and their future, they can not even remember what it was.I’m not saying they didn’t have purpose, that they didn’t contribute, that they didn’t add value.\u00a0 They did, they added tremendous value and the world is a better place because they were in it, and I am grateful for all they have done.But I do wonder if they reached their fullest potential.\u00a0 If they did all they could to live the life they were capable of.Just imagine if they made the decision to lead their own life, how far they could have gone."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Give More","item":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/give-more\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"choice vs decision","item":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/give-more\/choice-vs-decision\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]