Decide & Conquer: Make Winning Decisions and Take Control of Your Life

11

Three

Chapter

1

Why It’s Hard to Be

Rational

You’ll never have all the information you need

to make a decision. If you did, it would be

a foregone conclusion, not a decision.

—Anonymous

D

id you cancel any air-travel plans following the September 11, 2001,

terrorist attacks? Did you avoid going into skyscrapers or attending events

where masses of people might be? If you did, you were probably afraid of

becoming a terror victim. But was fear of terrorism immediately following

9/11 a rational response? The answer is probably no,

1

but, as you’ll see in

this chapter, it’s hard to be rational.

A rational person would be far more fearful of dying in his or ...