When it comes to making those big decisions in life, we’re often racked with uncertainty. Algorithms and apps analyze data and tell you how to beat traffic, which books to buy, what music to listen to, and even who to date. But if you’re single, for example, and thinking about getting married or having children, the decision can be daunting. And when it comes to a career path, it can feel like the job or assignment we take can define who we are and what we’ll become.
Making a list can help clarify the pros and cons, but how can we evaluate something for which we have no real first hand experience? Who we aspire to be may change over time, and a meaningful life may not always follow the conventional road map.
In his latest book “Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us,” economist and author Russ Roberts navigates the decision making process when it’s hard to crunch the numbers.
Roberts suggests that for many of life’s big problems today, there are no easy answers, while for much of human history, “your choices were extremely limited,” he says. “Life was much more constrained. Your choices were circumscribed in all kinds of ways, by culture, by law, through religion and other forces that acted on people. … We live in a time now where things are not decided the way they once were, they were up for grabs.” 
“What's important to you is going to change, and you should leave yourself open to that change. You should look at it, you should observe it, you should experience it, you should taste it,” says economist Russ Roberts. Photo by Jay Mallin. Book cover for “Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us.”
Roberts addresses the challenge that many of us fear — that of regret: “What if we make a choice and it's the wrong one? We will end up down a path that we can't recover from.”
He suggests a different perspective on viewing big decisions and overcoming uncertainty.
“Think of your life more as a work of art and less as a problem to be solved, an equation to be maximized,” he says. “It kinda takes some of the pressure off.”
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