Name: Wild Problems
Rating: 4.5 (303 reviews)
Author: Russ Roberts

When it comes to the toughest of decisions, rationality may need to take a back seat to discovery and principles.

What’s a wild problem?

Wild problems are the ones that no algorithm, app or clinical pro-vs-con list can solve. And they’re everywhere. When it comes to issues like marriage, children and careers – the things that truly define us – sometimes the best way to make a decision is by jumping in with an open mind and strong sense of self. You can’t simply cost these decisions out. After all, the happiness you might feel from the right choice is not something that can be added up like a transaction. It is usually something more ephemeral.

Scientists, philosophers and thinkers have parsed through the problem of decision making, but few have an approach that can be universally applied. We are unique individuals who all have our own paths to happiness. While logic and reasoning can help us decide between things as trivial as toothpaste brands or as clinical as types of surgery, old-fashioned soul-searching might be your best bet to solve a truly thorny Wild Problem. In this Blink, we’ll break down Russ Roberts' thoughts on how to tussle with wild problems and not just solve them, but flourish while doing so.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

Why a pro-con list might not be the best tool for decision-making
What Charles Darwin worried about, and
Lessons from the NFL Draft

Making decisions based on the goal of living a fulfilling life will lead to richer, happier experiences.

The ancient Greeks gave us democracy, the Western alphabet and the Olympics, to name just a few contributions.

They also introduced us to many interesting ways to think about things. Let’s take the word eudaemonia. Loosely translated, it means “flourishing,” and refers to a richer, more fulfilling way of living, one that cannot be directed by a pro-con list.

When making decisions, be guided by your principles.

We have learned that the end goal of many of life’s major decisions or wild problems is to flourish. But how do we make the decisions that take us here?

It’s not that we are all hedonistic or nihilistic, craving 24-hour abandon or despairing of true meaning. Many of us are perfectly sensible, using tried and tested systems for decision making such as the one defined by economist Ariel Rubinstein. First you ask, ‘what is desirable?’ Then you ask, ‘what is feasible?’ And then you choose the most desirable options among your feasible options.

Don’t allow decision-making to paralyze you; you always have the option to change course.

The guru for this next set of rules is not a writer, philosopher or economist. Rather, it’s a football coach. Not just any old coach, but perhaps the most storied one alive: Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots.

The NFL Draft is how teams choose from the incoming crop of college players. They do this by reviewing hours of tapes, poring over statistics and interviewing players. Although Belichick has the option to pick some of the top early-round picks – and he does – people have noticed that he’s always willing to trade his early picks for multiple picks later. In other words, he’s okay with losing a top prospect for a bunch of potential ones.

Key ideas in Wild Problems