Making Tough Decisions Just Got WAY Easier

Making an important decision, like what car to buy or what city to settle down in, can be stressful and emotionally taxing — especially if you’re an indecisive person like me who can barely figure out what to eat for breakfast. Well, we may not have to deal with the stressful decision-making process anymore because now — yup, you guessed it! — there’s an app for that. The new ChoiceMap app helps you make important decisions, whether you're trying to decide your college major or you're just trying to figure out what to make for dinner. By breaking down your options and using an algorithm to figure out which will best work for you, the new app is quite possibly an indecisive person's dream come true.

So how does it work? The free iPhone app basically simplifies the frazzling decision-making process by breaking it down into a series of no-frills, step-by-step choices. You start by naming what it is you're trying to decide — for example, cars, baby name, etc. You then list the options you’re considering: a Mazda, a Buick, a Toyota or Ben, John, Luke. The app then asks you to rate the importance of certain priorities, such as fuel efficiency or originality. Based on those answers, ChoiceMap grades each of your options and ranks them from top to bottom.

OK, I know what you’re thinking — it’s a little weird to put big decisions in the hands of your smartphone. On one hand, I can’t help but agree. There are some truly private decisions (like a baby name, for instance, or the future of a particular relationship) that I think can only be handled the old-fashioned way: with lots of mulling and some advice from people you trust.

Still, for less personal, more practical choices, ChoiceMap seems like it could be truly helpful. Instead of having to write out a pro and con list for yourself, the app basically does it for you. And in the end, the decision still comes down to you — you could choose the app’s number one choice, pick a different option from the top three, or choose to go with none at all. But at least you know your options, and how they rank.

Now, excuse me while I use this to figure out what movie to watch tonight.

Images: Fotolia; ChoiceMap