ICM Blog Post Module 2 | Thinking about thinking; looking at the long-term effects of decision making

One of the things that really got me to think deeply in Module 2 was in the 12-page workbook activity we had to fill out and re-submit. I've never thought to sit down and think about myself for so much, as it's usually something I don't like to focus on.

While working on the activity, I realized one of the main themes that was compromising some of the things I was working towards in my life: long-term decision making.

Whether this is in any aspect of life, this concept is extremely important and can affect anyone's life in a multitude of ways.

A 2004-2005 survey got responses from over 30,000 Americans over 18. In their findings, Jaime Chamorro, Silvia Bernardi, Marc N Potenza, Jon E Grant, Rachel Marsh, Shuai Wang and Carlos Blanco concluded that around 17% of the population has issues with impulsivity. This was eye-opening to me because I figured that it was a lot more common. Additionally, the survey revealed that the trait of impulsivity tends to show itself more in males, as well as individuals who suffer from ADHD, which I do.

This was really interesting to me because now I'm beginning to understand some of the actions and decisions I take in my life. If I can be aware of these things, perhaps I can prevent some more impulsive decisions down the road if I can verbalize how impulsivity has affected me and my progress negatively in the past, and to seriously consider all outcomes and choices for major decisions.

I tend to often put things off impulsively without really thinking about the consequences. For example, I struggled a lot with productivity in my time at Quinnipiac. I would often get discouraged about an assignment and my confidence would usually be low that I could complete it proficiently. This would lead to me not wanting to do it at all, out of fear that my work would be not nearly as good as others. Other things affecting me were stress and anxiety about having to get in the right mindset to accomplish something I thought was going to be much harder than it really ended up being in the end.