Nono.MA
Sketch.Nono.MA

Taking time to make decisions: Our new mampara

Eleven months after moving to Panaderos, on January 16, 2020, we were able to shower for the first time with our new mampara in place. (That's how we say "shower screen" here in Spain.) Alex and Lolo, from Bauhaus, installed it the day before. We had to wait twenty four hours for the silicone sealing to dry out before we could use it.

Showering without splashing water out (and staying warm) was a joyous moment. A luxury we grew up with for around $600.

But why did we wait for almost a year to have it installed if the installation took just one hour?

We didn't know what we wanted when we first moved. We spent months evaluating different options to end up giving into an idea we didn't want to settle for initially—building an opaque, perpendicular extension to one of the existing bathroom walls which, after all, doesn't look that bad.


Farsighted is a book about making decisions, about why it takes us so long to make them and practices to end up making the best possible choices in a world in which we won't ever know the correct answer, written by Steven Johnson.

With experience, (some) decisions are faster. Others will always take long. And other won't ever be made.

In my own experience, I've discover that what works for me is letting things sit over days, weeks, or even months, and let my mind evaluate the different possibilities.

Still, no matter how long you take to make a decision, you won't ever know whether it was the right choice.

March 17, 2020
Nono Martínez Alonso


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Pencil sketch of Nono Martínez Alonso.