5 foolproof ways to know how many options to keep open

"I want to keep my options open."

How many times have you said that? If you're like me, probably more times than you've salsa danced, but fewer times than you've tried to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time. Keeping options open nothing to be guilty about, but there's something fragile about saying it -- as if it's a sign of weakness. When people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates say in retrospect that focus, the antithesis of options, was the single greatest contributor to their achievements, it feels even sillier to be dabbling in many things at once.

But in a certain way, it makes sense -- we humans are naturally predisposed not to burn bridges. (Unless you're these guys.) After all, focus is emotionally challenging. John Carmack, the great game programmer, once said that focus is a matter of deciding what not to do. That's hard, because the human mind inflates small probabilities -- the phrase "just in case" dominates decision-making.

Normally, college students like to keep their options open in matters such as

• personal finance
  
• jobs
• vending machine items
• graduate schools
  
• women/men

But have you ever asked yourself what's the optimal number of options to keep open?

Unlikely.

Let's fix that now -- here are five foolproof ways to know how many options to keep open, whether you're chasing the ladies, picking a retirement plan, or pursuing pre-med, pre-law, and pre-ethnologist requirements simultaneously.

1. Fate. Fate is a useful way to blame consequences on something else. Generate a random number from 1-100.
   
2. Laziness. One can always rely on one's laziness. Keep flipping coins until you don't feel like it anymore. Then use method (1), because you didn't feel like keeping count of the number of heads.
   
3. Science. Science is a popular way of solving problems. According to science, we can remember at most seven things simultaneously. You may want to take that into consideration.
   
4. Religion. Religion is a popular way of dealing with problems. Use the Bible of Options.
5. Experience. Ask yourself how many options you're keeping open right now, and how many you've kept open in the past, and what number has been most effective for you so far.

For me, a combination of these methods yields the number 86.763. Now go forth and make decisions more confidently, knowing not just which options to keep open, but how many.

How to keep all of your New Year's resolutions

Admit it. Your batting average for New Year's resolutions leaves something to be desired. (Don't worry, mine does too.)

This is a widespread phenomenon, the unfulfilled New Year's resolution, causing much stress and guilt to innocent resolution-makers everywhere. I think I've kept one New Year's resolution so far, and that was to earn an amount of money that I later I realized I already had. Everything else -- be kind, eat more, learn Hindi -- have perished like my grades after buying Starcraft.

My goal, like yours, is to keep the New Year's resolutions I make. Therefore, I hereby resolve to make resolutions that I have already accomplished. 

Start a blog named "Catechu." Check. Write posts no one reads. Check. Buy a copy of The Wicker Man (2006) for $3.30 because it has that most sublime of actors, Nicolas Cage. Check.

I feel better already. With this resolution, I'm well on my way to moral excellence.