How Do You Handle Conflicting Goals?

It's surprisingly easy for us to harbor views that are good separately, but are at odds with each other. You want to work hard, but also spend time with your family, or you want to take up a new hobby while cutting back on your expenses. As Gretchen Rubin from Psychology Today points out, the conflict that arises when you have two opposing goals or desires often results in a paralysis that leads to no action at all:

Often, if there’s something that I want to do, but somehow can’t get myself to do, it’s because I don’t have clarity. This lack of clarity often arises from a feeling of ambivalence–I want to do something, but I don’t want to do it; or I want one thing, but I also want something else that conflicts with it.

Here’s a conflict: It’s nice when my older daughter is around while she does her homework; on the other hand, it’s good for her to be in her room without the distractions of family noise. So do I nudge her to go to her room, or do I let her stay in the kitchen? I can never decide.