Most people think they make decisions based on what works best, in practice, it’s rarely that simple. A lot of decisions are shaped by something quieter – what feels normal.
Normal usually comes from somewhere else. From family, friends, what people around us are doing, what we’ve always done. Once something feels normal, it rarely gets questioned, even if the original reason for it has disappeared.
We see this quite often with clients. On paper, things usually make sense, but underneath that, decisions are often being guided by what feels familiar. Or what people in a similar position tend to do. Or what’s always been done.
It’s not always obvious at first, it tends to show up in how something is phrased, or in the assumptions sitting behind a question. That’s usually where the conversation becomes more interesting because once you step back from what feels “normal”, there’s often more than one way of looking at the same decision.
That doesn’t mean the original choice was wrong, it just means it might not be the only option. Most of the time, the shift isn’t dramatic, it’s just a slightly different way of thinking about the same situation.
But that’s often enough.