Really, Universe?
Really, Universe? is for anyone who has ever looked at their life and thought — is this really it?
Hosted by Mari Peck — someone who has survived more plot twists than seems statistically reasonable and decided to stop keeping the lessons to herself — each episode combines honest personal storytelling with real research to help you understand why you're stuck, what it actually costs to change, and how to keep going anyway.
Honest. Research-backed. And occasionally — when the Universe particularly outdoes itself — a little bit funny.
For anyone ready to stop living a life that no longer fits.
Really, Universe?
Ep. 9 How to Make Hard Decisions
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How to make hard decisions without letting fear, anger, or euphoria make the call for you. In this episode of Really, Universe?, Mari breaks down why stay-or-go decisions feel so paralyzing — and the research behind why staying in a bad situation so often feels safer than it actually is.
Drawing on loss aversion research from Kahneman and Tversky, regret research from Cornell psychologists Gilovich and Medvec, and Bronnie Ware's observations from a decade of palliative care nursing, Mari shares two decisions from her own life: one where outside pressure made the call for her, and one where taking a job she was overqualified for — in the middle of cancer treatment, unemployed, and applying for work for the first time in over a decade — turned out to be one of the best decisions of her career.
Walk away with three usable tools: the three-question gut check (worst case, best case, and regret of inaction — each with a real percentage-likelihood and mitigation plan), the 10-10-10 time-horizon check, and why practicing on small decisions builds the muscle you'll need for the big ones.
REFERENCES
- Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263-291.
- Gilovich, T., & Medvec, V. H. (1994). The Temporal Pattern to the Experience of Regret. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(3), 357-365.
- Ware, B. (2012). The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing. Hay House. (Note: a nurse's collected personal observations, not a peer-reviewed study — included and clearly labeled as such in the episode.)
- Grant, A. (2016). Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. Viking.
- Schwartz, B. (2004). The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. Ecco.
- Ferriss, T. Fear-Setting: The Most Valuable Exercise I Do Every Month. Tim Ferriss (blog). Concept traces to the Stoic practice of premeditatio malorum (Seneca).
- Baumeister, R. F., & Tierney, J. (2011). Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. Penguin Press. (Decision fatigue research.)
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