Decisions Archives - Page 2 of 2

Where In the World Would You Live?

Posted on May 29, 2020

People have been going online more and getting more comfortable with technology like videoconferencing and mobile payments. Where in the world would you live if our increasingly online world made it easy to live anywhere?

It seems like an easy decision. However, it may not be as easy as you think. It really depends on many factors. These factors could include your work, lifestyle desires, partner, children, broader family and friends.

I often go through this mental exercise. Where is the ideal place, I muse. Many places come up on my list. Considerations like nice weather year round, creature comforts and now schooling for children all come into play.

In late 2004, my wife and I bought ‘round the world‘ tickets and travelled for 15 months. We visited some fabulous places including memorable stops in Europe, Mexico, Australia and Africa.

In the end, we returned to London. We thought we would return to Canada at that time. Despite selling our property in London when we left and buying one in Mexico on our tour, we continued our life in London.

There were many places that were lovely, exciting or enchanting to visit. But there wasn’t anywhere that struck us as worth uprooting for and moving to.

It seems like an easy question to answer. But when you start getting into the detail, it is not so obvious. If you could live anywhere, where in the world would you live?

Action Think About It

Being Your Most Decisive

Posted on May 28, 2020

When are you at your most decisive? Is it when you are low energy, uncertain, disinterested? Being your most decisive probably occurs when you feel confident, clear, energised, interested and have a deadline.

Decision velocity is critical in making progress. Your whole life is based on the decisions you make. You are where you are right now based on thousands of small, medium and large decisions you’ve made.

The great thing is decision making is a skill or muscle you can develop, train and improve on. You will make decisions quicker too if you get comfortable with being able to change your mind. If you made a decision and you don’t like the result, you can change your mind or refine your position.

Well when events change, I change my mind. What do you do?
Paul Samuelson

We know many people don’t like minds changing, particularly the media, but that is up to those people to have fixed mindsets. If you want to get somewhere you need to make good decisions with decent information and keep moving.

Being your most decisive requires bravery, courage, and a desire to make certain things happen. Life is a test and learn scenario. Making decisions allow you to test outcomes.

Reflecting on things allow you to learn. You may choose to change your decision. Alternatively you can choose to keep the decision and pocket the learning experience. Perhaps you will test a different decision in a similar circumstance in the future.

Either way, train your decision making muscle. Be brave and make those decisions. Live with the results. Test and learn. Keep going.

Think About It Time

Life With No Consequences

Posted on May 25, 2020

People need to see that there is a cause and effect. This should be for both good and bad. We must remember that life with no consequences presents other problems.

It’s best if people learn this lesson young. Children that learn this lesson well should have a better moral compass and achieve greater success. I don’t know if they do, but it seems more likely.

As a parent, I sometimes highlight the potential consequences of an action to my children. If it is quite dangerous, I may insist on the end of the activity. However, if it will not harm them, sometimes I let them continue, after noting the potential consequences.

The safest way to learn is to use other people’s experience, but the best way to remember the learning moment is to get the experience yourself. So sometimes, you just need to let things go on their course and believe the universe will reveal the consequences without significant trouble.

A life with no consequences sounds awesome to me. The problem is, that is not how life works. I want my children to grow up with this core lesson, that there are consequences to your actions, both good and bad.

Like times tables, this lesson will have to be continually reinforced through training until it is ingrained in their being. But it is a good one to know. Follow a good formula and better things should occur. Go off track and challenges will pop up that you would prefer weren’t there.

If you always save your children, friends, parents, etc, they won’t learn or grow. That scenario isn’t good for anyone. In contrast, it is such a great thing to see them making good decisions, on their own, and reaping what they sow.