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From a stance of Psychology, does the mind always generate the practical during choices, purely based on outside view or perception of what is right , in the sense of college choice and majors..

Is the mind, usually quick to jump to the ideals of what everyone else believes is right for them?Than what can actually be great for an individuals needs and wants.
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#mind-over-matter

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Spruce’s Answer

Hey Alyssa,


What a fantastic question! Just to be sure, I think you’re asking if our minds always provide us with practical choices (what everyone else believes is right for us), or can it also provide us with different choices (what we believe might be great for us). If I misunderstood you I apologize.


With all respect Alyssa, I think you know the answer. Our minds select from among choices based on criteria we develop from our innate knowledge and knowledge we gain as we go through life. Our minds (at least mine) cannot make choices based purely on one slice of our knowledge compared to another slice – we have to use the whole enchilada. But with practice we can come close by selecting different ideas, consider their source, and think carefully through each idea and their intended and unintended consequences.


I think you know as well that you are the only one who knows for sure (even if you’re still looking) what you want and need from your career and for a happy and fulfilling life. If your mind is full of ideas from others, maybe you should spend more time filling it with ideas from you. If you have a particular issue with something or someone that you think impairs your judgment, talk to a friend or someone else not involved in your normal circle of friends and family. When I’m having trouble making a decision, it helps me a lot to write it down. What I do is write everything down and get it all on one piece of paper. Once my entire problem is written on one piece of paper, somehow it just becomes smaller, and you can move the pieces around anyway you like and a pattern usually emerges.


I’ve already told you more about psychology than I know so I’ll stop rambling. Lots of people have trouble deciding what to major in. If you pick something now, you can always change it later (within reason). Or if you’re really not ready, don’t start school yet but work for a semester or a year until your head clears. That’s what I did, and when I came back, I started getting better grades, too.


Best of luck.

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Hi Alyssa! This is such a great question! I'm not a professional psychologist to give you an answer as to what exactly happens in our minds when we make decisions, so I won't go there. Here's what has helped me live with the choices I've made.
As far as college selection goes, if you are unsure of your major, choose the one which maximizes the number of opportunities you'd get. More often than not, I find that opportunities open up career paths that you never thought you'd be pursuing. So make sure you are in a place which presents you with as many avenues as possible so that you can choose where you want to go.
As far as choosing a major is concerned, I found this piece of advice that one of my teachers gave me very useful - "find something that is the intersection of your passion and money". Let's face it, money is important and say you are doing something you absolutely love but the income is sporadic or unpredictable, it's going to take a lot of metal resilience to stay sane and keep at it. If money is all the we chase, then burnout and dissatisfaction are inevitable. So find something that you genuinely like doing which also servers as a stable source of income, this way you'll have the time and money to pursue your true but niche interests in your spare time with satisfaction and financial stability. If things catch on, then you can make that your main act! If not you can keep it as a hobby or side hustle and keep going forward.

Hope this helps, best of luck!
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