This week I was trying to make a tough decision and I
realized that the advice
I posted earlier about making a college choice was equally applicable in my
situation--choosing a car.
I knew three months ago that my car was dying and I needed
to find an alternative. I tried to convince my husband that we were ready to be
a one-car rather than a two-car family, but he was not quite ready for that
level of coordination and sharing.
I encourage my students to be careful researchers and use a
variety of resources when selecting colleges for their list, and I was
similarly thorough in my car hunt. I set a budget, and used impartial data sources
to learn about reliability, safety, performance and customer satisfaction (the
car equivalents of collegedata
and collegenavigator). Then
I went on chat websites and read more anecdotal evidence (the car equivalents
of collegeconfidential
and collegeprowler). Then I took my
list of seven potential makes/models and went for test drives (the car equivalent of college campus visits).
The above steps narrowed my list to two options: a used
Toyota Camry or a new Honda Fit. Both had pros and cons, and because I was
trying to make a rational decision I got stuck in analysis paralysis. It was
the first time in many years that I could actually feel the stress my students
go through when trying to choose by that May 1 decision deadline.
In the end I needed to follow my own advice. The
intellectual-decision making was done at the time I narrowed my list to seven
good-fit cars. Now I needed to trust my gut instinct, imagine myself happily
driving my two final choices for the next ten years, and pick the car that felt
right. See the photo below to discover what I chose.
Jodi and her Honda Fit
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