Don’t Make Big Changes All At Once

For the last few months, I’ve been thinking about getting a pixie cut.

For those of you who don’t know, a “pixie cut” a type of super short women’s haircut. Common examples of actresses who have sported pixie cuts include J-Law and Rihanna.

Emotionally speaking, cutting off that much hair isn’t like getting a regular haircut. Hair grows at a rate of 1/2 inch per month, so cutting off six inches of hair means that should you regret the decision, it will take an entire year to grow back.

Given that people start and end relationships in the time it takes to grow out hair, I’ve given the decision serious thought. I’ve downloaded apps to “try on” different hairstyles. I’ve made pros and cons lists. I’ve talked it over with every friend, neighbor, and coworker. “Should I do it?” I keep asking. “Or should I forget about it?”

This is a common framework for making major decisions. We become inspired to do something drastic (like quit our jobs, sell all our possessions, or cut off all our hair), and then spend months or years agonizing over whether or not it’s the right decision to make.

Frankly speaking, this is a stupid way to make decisions. Before we order ice cream, we taste-test different flavors. Before we purchase clothes, we try them on. But we’re perfectly ready to make major life decisions without testing the waters first?

How To Test Major Life Decisions

In entrepreneurship, there’s a concept known as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Your MVP is the cheapest, least complicated product you can produce before selling your product on the market. The idea is, you want to build the cheapest product possible as quickly as possible, so you can get it to market and see how it does in the real world.

We can apply this concept to our personal lives. We can ask ourselves what our Minimum Viable Change to our lifestyle would be. For instance…

• If I want to cut off all my hair like Jennifer Lawrence, I can start by cutting off two inches and seeing how that makes me feel.
• If you want to quit your job, you can start by asking for reduced hours and using the extra time to build a side hustle.
• If you get it into your head that you want to sell all your possessions and travel the world, you can start by scheduling a two-week backpacking trip overseas.
• If you want to go back to school for psychology, you can start by taking a free YouTube course about psychology and seeing if the topic interests you.

I’ll admit that not every life decision has a Minimum Viable Change option. For example, there is no Minimum Viable Change for breaking up with a life partner.

But for the vast majority of things, there are ways to test-run your decision before you make it final.

MVC Will Save You Time, Money, And Heartache

Asking yourself what the Minimum Viable Change would be for any major decision is likely to save you a lot of time, money, and heartache. It saved me heartache when I decided to stop agonizing over my choice and just cut two inches off as a test. (The test went well — more hair likely to be removed soon).

The same goes for other major choices as well. Say you decide you want to travel the continental U.S. in a camper van — before you go spend thousands of dollars purchasing a used cargo van and renovating it, you can try renting a camper van for two weeks and taking a long road trip. If you enjoy the experience, then you’ll know it’s worth it to invest thousands of dollars in a camper van. If you don’t, you’ll know to spend your money on other things instead.

There are a zillion ways to apply this principle:

• Spend two weeks vacationing in a city before uprooting your entire life to move there
• Buy a gym membership for a few months before spending thousands on home gym equipment
• Rent the model of car you want to buy for a week before signing the loan

Sometimes people have a lot of success with the “jump in the deep end” method of making decisions, but I’m not one of those people. I like to dip my toe in the water and see how it feels.

If you’re the same way, remember — you never have to jump in all at once.

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