Can you – D E C I D E ?!?

As I was thinking about choices that we make in life, I though of posting an off-side topic on decision making – the toughest job for me, there is! We talk about things to do, we make plans about our lives and these plans require decisions. Everyday, people are inundated with decisions, big and small. Some good, others bad!

When you decide on something, you either think of it on your own – something new, something creative or you follow the trend. Either ways, the problem lies in the process, the thinking, the choices. We take that little risk when we decide on things as they might go wrong. To get anywhere, or even to live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer. Nevertheless, a peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.

“Sir, What is the secret of your success?” a reporter asked a bank president.
“Two words.”
“And, sir, what are they?”
“Good decisions.”
“And how do you make good decisions?”
“One word.”
“And sir, what is that?”
“Experience.”
“And how do you get Experience?”
“Two words.”
“And, sir, what are they?”
“Bad decisions.”

What we decide today is actually based on the bad decisions we made yesterday. We have to experience those decisions somehow – today or tomorrow. We can’t be right all the time, nor can we be perfect. Everything is something that you decide to do and there is nothing that you HAVE to do.

Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. Not all good decisions come at the beginning, but still we have to decide. I wish there were super-heroes with super-powers like correct judgement and infinite experience and knowledge.  Since, that can’t happen, we need to learn from our mistakes. “No physician is really good before he has killed one or two patients“, states an old Hindu quote, and I can’t beg to differ. While my ‘superhero-theory’ states false, we can’t get hold of things we’ve done and then turn them right. Such a power might be given to the gods, but it was not given to us – to the mankind and probably that was a good thing. Had it been otherwise, people would have died of old age still trying to rewrite their teens.

We receive three educations – one from our parents, one from our teachers and one from the world. The third one contradicts all that the first two teach us! This big bad world changes every day, every second! Its this world which gives us our experience. Mind it : we should be careful to get out of an experience and stop there; lest we’ll be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again – which is a good thing; but she will neither sit down on a cold one either.

Once you decide to make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. If you can’t, then you should start RIGHT NOW! Indecision is like a hated person. If he does not wash his hands, he is called dirty, if he does, he is wasting water. Too often, the opportunity knocks, but by the time you push back the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the burglar alarm, its too late. You have to be prepared. You have to be ready to dance with opportunity as it approaches the dance floor. Though indecision becomes decision with time, the delay and indecisiveness often causes failure – this, I am talking out of personal experiences.

Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader. Don’t fall victim to  the ‘ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome’. You must be willing to fire at all times. When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature. If someone tells you he is going to make a ‘realistic decision’, you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad. We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over. So decide on which lane you have to walk and pursue it.

“Decision is a sharp knife that cuts clean and straight; indecision, a dull one that hacks and tears and leaves ragged edges behind it.”

 

Be Happy. Stay Happy. Keep Deciding! :)