The Challenge of the Blank Sheet of Paper

A clean sheet of paper.

The open road. A new programming language

All examples of limitless possibilities. And where decisions can’t be made because alternatives are not refined.

Here even values don’t help because the is simultaneously everything to choose from but nothing to do.

Create a plan?  Doodle and wait for direction from within or without?

The first principle of Deciding Better is to decide to decide. We’re making decisions all the time, whether we are aware of the choices or not. In order to decide better, its critical to begin to be conscious about decisions. And we know that decisions can only be made in the present. A choice is an action and actions by definition are events in the “now”. You can’t do anything in the past or the future and, by extension it’s impossible to make decide to do something in the future. It’s impossible to change a decision made in the past as well of course.

The blank sheet of paper challenges this approach. How can decisions be made when there are no choices on offer? A blank sheet of paper provides no list of alternatives. Decision Theory suggests that the proper procedure is to brainstorm to create a list of all possible alternatives and then use some value weighting system to choose the best of the alternatives. Am I supposed to list all of the possible things to write? Fiction, non-fiction, lists, drawings . . .  Drawings of what? Fish, birds, building, people, microbes, maps . . .

Way too many possibilities to enumerate. More buckets that I have at my disposal.

It’s well known that too many choices can be as much of a problem as too few choices. In fact we feel most comfortable when there is no choice at all. But at least give me clear alternatives. This in part I believe is behind the flight to simplicity we see these days. As a response to excess we reject complexity all together. Just simplify my life. Make it easy for me. Clear alternatives that represent real values.

Faced with the blank sheet of paper, I believe that the right place to look is in the opposite direction. Not at the paper but into the viewer of the paper.  Look within. The blank paper, the tool on the bench or the computer language has nothing to offer except the possibility of action. It is the actor, not the tool that needs simplification.

There has to be some model that is inside us that provides the list of possible actions to take with that blank sheet of paper. This is a reduction of complexity within ourselves which in principle is no different from reducing complexity in any other domain of making decisions, creating simplified models.

Author: James Vornov

I'm an MD, PhD Neurologist who left a successful academic career on the Faculty of The Johns Hopkins Medical School to develop new treatments in Biotech and Pharma. I became fascinated with how people actually make decisions based on the science of decision theory and emerging understanding of how the brain works to make decisions. My passion now is this deep explanation of what has been the realm of philosophy, psychology and self help but is now understood as brain function. By understanding our brains, I believe we can become happier, more successful people. View all posts by James Vornov