How To Choose Responsibly

"HOW TO CHOOSE RESPONSIBLY"

Good ol' Monty Hall and "Let's Make a Deal". I talked about this program in yesterday's entry so, if you missed it, go back and check it out.

One of the things I mentioned was the tendency of ALL of us to say AFTER all has been revealed, "Oh, I KNEW I should have picked that other choice!"

20/20 hindsight, remember?

I'm sure you would agree that this is EASY to apply to our lives. I'm sure ALL of us can look back on both good and bad decisions we have made and see rather EASILY what we either should have done or breathe a sigh of relief because of what we DID choose.

So, how CAN we choose responsibly?

The main part of the answer is found in one word in the question - "responsibly".

Decisions that are made without much thought are usually irresponsible decisions. They may be made in the heat of passion or anger or just an overdrive dose of excitement. (By the way, this is why so many sales pitches try to get you to "BUY NOW" or tell you that the offer is good "for today only"! When this is the case you might want to really consider staying away at LEAST until you have had a chance to step away and think about it AWAY from the hype.)

So, first and foremost, in order to make a RESPONSIBLE decision about ANYTHING, make sure you are not being swayed by emotion of any kind.

You should also avoid any choice that is being swayed by DESPERATION! This is another type of emotion that bring people to making rash and irresponsible decisions. Again - PAY ATTENTION TO THIS PATTERN - there are many "sales people" that are actually looking for people to "prey on" that are DESPERATE. Again, take the time to step away from the situation and give yourself a chance to think clearly.

Think about it this way - many times when someone is struggling to keep from drowning they will take their rescuer down with them and drown them as well. Why? PANIC! DESPERATION! Life guards are taught to be aware of this upon their approach so that they do not become a second victim of the situation. Most people, when they have a chance to think of it when they are NOT desperate, know that they should try to remain calm and listen to the rescuer and do as they say. But, in the heat of the moment it's often a different story!

And, finally (at least for this article) you must consider your RESPONSIBILITY toward others if you wish to choose responsibly. This is the part that I said was found in one of the words to the main question. All of the things that I have mentioned so far in this article can fall into this category. Consider your responsibility to others BEFORE making a choice. This may be your spouse, your kids, other family members, your boss and/or coworkers, etc.

You may - in the heat of the moment (remember, this is the time to STEP AWAY!) decide that you want to take a job on the opposite coast without even thinking about the repercussions on your family. Oops!

Sure, it's "your life" but you have also made some choices earlier in your life - if you have a family - that has brought others into the equation that MAKES UP "your life" and they MUST be considered in your decisions. Like it or not - that's just the way it is, friend.

UNLESS you choose to act irresponsibly!

And, if you are NOT married and you plan to do so one day then, please understand, it is IMPERATIVE that you spend time talking about all kinds of things with your potential partner so that you can BOTH see if you are on "the same page" on important things.

Well, that's enough for today.

How do you choose responsibly? DO NOT MAKE DECISIONS IN THE "HEAT OF THE MOMENT". That's it in a nutshell.

HOMEWORK: (What? What do you mean "homework"?) Take a moment and look back over decisions that you would now label as "poor" and see if you can find some "heat of the moment" factor that was connected to that decision. I'd love to hear what you find.

Until next time...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike

http://www.michaelspillman.com/