The power of thinking without thinking - SAT Essay

"People usually assume that the quality of a decision is directly related to the time and effort that went into making it.  We believe that we are always better off gathering as much information as possible and then spending as much time as possible analyzing that information.  But there are times when making a quick judgment is the best thing to do.  Decisions made quickly can be as good without decisions made slowly and cautiously"

- Adapted from Malcolm Gladwell

(The content below is my SAT essay... cut off in thought, just straight up thirty minutes of bullshit.)

Picture it, a tennis match between the two greatest tennis players of all time:  Pete Sampras, and Roger Federe.  Flashes of elegance through movement by Federer and Herculean strength through his serve and volley game that Sampras exemplifies.  Rallies back and forth and one or the other could not break each other for neither is comfortable with their opponent's style.  The message that is being conveyed is is that a decision made quickly (Serve and Volley), or Federer's fluidity in court gives him more chances to win through the rally (which is usually longer than a serve and volley point), represents the slowly and carefully thought out decision, is just as good as the other depending on the player who makes them in the tennis court of life.

An example of a quick decision is the future.  I am a college peer counselor at my school, and I get to hear a lot of futures (prospective) by these people.  They mention the fact that they want to go to certain schools (USC, UCLA and such), but show uncertainty in the process of doing so, without the awareness of their performance in school or what their future is.  With uncertainty comes failure, but if one says at a childhood age that he or she pursues to be a doctor, works hard consistently, graduating valedictorian in middle, high school and college, then he or she is on the path to success.

A perfect example for a well thought out decision is an Iron Chef dish.  Given the fact that the Iron Chef nor his opponent know what the secret ingredient is, along wit with the fact that they have to make five dishes in a span of an hour will drive them bananas (no food pun intended - but definitely obvious).  Even though they are only given fifteen minutes to make a "quick" decision, it might as well be thought out for these chefs have vast knowledge of food unlike the kids I peer counseled who have no awareness of their future, their major, or what their breakfast is tomorrow.  However, a well thought out decision is a double edged sword.  I remember watching Top Chef and a judge asked if the contestant if he or she had a solid plan coming to the finale and said now, to which her explanation was: "If I planned to cook a certain dish for the finale and the ingredients were not there, then I'm screwed".  This shows that sometimes.....

Time's Up.

Stupid time limits.