You're listening to a special archive presentation of TED Talks audio. This talk features philosopher Ruth Chang recorded live at TED at 250, Belief and Doubt, 2014. Think of a hard choice you'll face in the near future. It might be between two careers, artist and accountant, or places to live, the city or the

country, or even between two people to marry, you could marry Betty, or you could marry Lolita. Or it

might be a choice about whether to have children, to have an ailing parent move in with you, to raise your

child in a religion that your partner

lives by but leaves you cold, or whether to donate your life savings to charity.

Chances are the hard choice you thought of was something big, something momentous, something

that matters to you.

Hard choices seem to be occasions for agonizing, hand-wringing, the gnashing of teeth.

But I think we've misunderstood hard choices and the role they play in our lives.

Understanding hard choices uncovers a hidden power each of us possesses.

What makes a choice hard is the way the alternatives relate.

And an easy choice, one alternative is better than the other.

And a hard choice, one alternative is better in some ways, the other alternative is better in other ways,

and neither is better than the other overall.

You agonize over whether to stay in your current job in the city

or uproot your life for more challenging work than the country because staying is better in some

ways, moving is better in others, and neither is better than the other overall. We shouldn't think

that all hard choices are big.

Let's say you're deciding what to have for breakfast.

You could have high fiber brand cereal or a chocolate donut.

Suppose what matters in the choice is tastiness and healthfulness.

The cereal is better for you.

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