Councillor Matters | Cr Karen Probst, March 6, 2026
Published on 06 March 2026
How do you make decisions? Do you analyse all the little components, ask lots of questions, see what others think, research, do what everyone else does, go with your gut, ask Dr Google, procrastinate and hope for the best?
Obviously, it depends on a lot on the question and the possible consequences. A decision about changing jobs, moving house or starting a family generally has a greater impact than a decision about what to wear or have for breakfast.
But even those small daily decisions can have a big impact on our future. Our everyday habits that we do without thinking build up over time and do have a big impact on our future self. Think about the effect over years of what we eat, how much we move and exercise each day, and how that affects our health as we get older.
Everyone has different pressures though, and we all do the best we can with the resources we have at the time – financial, emotional, time, knowledge and so on.
Some decisions we don’t have much control over either. Things other people do, how they react – we can’t control that, we can only do what is in our own control.
There’s not always a right or wrong answer either. Okay, so you accepted a job offer, moved house, bought a new car, but then something else happens in your life and you move again.
The decisions we make as a council cover a whole range of issues too. Some matters are more controversial and in the public eye, such as transmission lines and wind farms, festivals, and swimming pools.
Others are smaller and practical things that community members raise that quietly get dealt with. Some things we have less control over, and we need to work with others to get the best result we can for our communities. Some things have a short time span. Other issues can take a long time to resolve.
Currently, the shortage of doctors and other health professionals, housing, getting water into Teddington are matters where we’re working with others to try to get both short-term results and long-term changes that will work for years into the future.
When we discuss the issues that come before us, we do analyse and ask lots of questions, we do look at what others have done, research alternatives, consider data, and we do have some interesting debates. What we don’t do is ask Dr Google or procrastinate and hope for the best!
As you go through this week, think about the automatic decisions you make each day and whether to tweak one and see what happens differently. What’s for breakfast?!