Corona Virus Diary, Part 106

One tool for decision making is casting lots. 1 Often, we aren't sure which of multiple choices is better. So rather than being held back by inaction ("paralysis by analysis"), we can appeal to some random process to give us a decision. I use the word "random" here in the sense that you don't know whether a coin will come up heads or tails—we'll go with the intuitive notion of this rather than try to formalize it with complicated maths.

The method of casting lots is easy; just assign options to outcomes and run a random number generator, flip some coins, etc. Studying some probability theory (discrete math generally is probably useful too) can show you more sophisticated things to do.

Action!

Getting organized can make the tasks of many (most?) days well laid out. Sometimes, however, we may be asked questions or asked to make decisions on things we don't really have a clear "reading" on. 2 Bashing your head against a wall probably isn't going to make anything more clear plus you have other things to do. How should you proceed?

Casting lots is an application of faith in that you are deciding to free up your attention/focus from some present issue and accepting whatever outcome the "random" process gives you.

Rather than being stuck doing nothing, you trust a process having done other preparations/thinking already.


  1. Today I looked at Acts 1:26 

  2. I've been with groups friends who have spent too long answering some question like, "where should we go to eat?". As I've gotten older, I've found that things I've taken for granted in the past—like meeting up with friends—can actually be a very difficult thing to happen. If you only see some friend like... once a year, do you really want to waste time talking about where to eat? 

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