“It demands immediacy. It doesn’t allow you to linger in indecision or create a spreadsheet of pros and cons.”
This piece stuck with me more than I expected as someone who hesitated on every decision that I ever came across. Every decision I've made throughout my life I've extended my thinking, really thinking about the consequences of my choices, and has left me thinking about the choice of going, or the choice of not going. In life there are no "what if's" or "maybe's". Answering “in the middle” to a yes or no question simply doesn’t make sense. It is easy to overlook the example of the yellow traffic light, yet it is a great metaphor for how risks are taken and how decisions are made. It is a yellow light, and gives you about 2 seconds to determine if you're going to rush through it, or if you're not going to rush through it.
"What do you want to do?" It is a question that really reflects on how you think really quickly about a variety of possible choices and hope for the best. But not knowing what is going to happen can be more important than the decision itself. You have to drive based on your best judgement. I can't explain the row of traffic that builds up, the defeated looks of those waiting for the light to change, the anger of the other drivers, the frustration of the pedestrians, the sound of cars rushing by, and then that moment of hope. That is the uncertainty that is potentially the basis of unyielding hope.
Intersections are chaotic spaces full of the potential for accidents, but also for the transient connections of people's lives. They present a small moral question. While some people are pushing to fight their way to the other side of the intersection, and some people are pulling back and crossing behind the existing queue, a lot of people are just waiting around. Beyond the road, everyday life requires split second decisions and centers on the same kind of grey area, operating with limited knowledge.
That small window of hesitation seeps into every other choice we make. When we ignore our instincts, it becomes harder to navigate the uncertainty and the rest of the intersection. Learning to move with caution, especially when that habitual risk taking is involved, is something that requires practice.

— Muse Guided, Two Seconds to Decide (Substack)
full article → https://open.substack.com/pub/museguided/p/two-seconds-to-decide