Decission Making

[Crazy Horse]

It may seem quite obvious, but, taking the time to make a good decision is extremely important.

But my actual question is slightly different.

Do you think, that just by pondering this issue, just by thinking about the importance of good decision making, that in future, you will make better decisions?

In other words, by simply raising awareness, and pondering the how's, the whys, the wherefores, you will stop for a moment before making a decision, and choose the right way forward.

Which is the right way forward? 

The mind can be tricked, it can be filled with ignorant nonsense and lies. The heart on the other hand never lies.

I have pondered the importance of good decision making, and have noticed a very positive change. 

Hope this makes sense? 

 

 

 

[+joc]

21 minutes ago, Crazy Horse said:

Do you think, that just by pondering this issue, just by thinking about the importance of good decision making, that in future, you will make better decisions?

Yes.

21 minutes ago, Crazy Horse said:

The mind can be tricked, it can be filled with ignorant nonsense and lies. The heart on the other hand never lies.

Incorrect premise.  Only the Conscious State of mind can be tricked.   The vast part of Mind...is subconscious...and has no knowledge of ignorance, or truth, or lies.  It's main function with regards to our thoughts are to find and extract data which supports the present Conscious State thought process.

[XenoFish]

The heart is an organ that pumps blood.

[XenoFish]

95% of our decision making is done by the subconscious. 5% being conscious input. If you want to make better decisions, reprogram your subconscious.

[+joc]

23 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

95% of our decision making is done by the subconscious. 5% being conscious input. If you want to make better decisions, reprogram your subconscious.

ding ding ding....we have a winner on aisle 5.....

[Davros of Skaro]

1 hour ago, Crazy Horse said:

The mind can be tricked, it can be filled with ignorant nonsense and lies. The heart on the other hand never lies.

It's like rain on your wedding day.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Davros of Skaro
forgot "like".

[+Desertrat56]

13 minutes ago, Davros of Skaro said:

It's like rain on your wedding day.

What does good luck have to do with making decisions?

[+joc]

12 minutes ago, Davros of Skaro said:

It's like rain on your wedding day.

Have you been listening to Alanis Morissette again?!

[Davros of Skaro]

Just now, joc said:

Have you been listening to Alanis Morissette again?!

Bingo!

[+Desertrat56]

1 minute ago, joc said:

Have you been listening to Alanis Morissette again?!

LOL.  That makes me wonder if anyone ever told her what the word 'ironic' actually means.

[littlebrowndragon]

2 hours ago, Crazy Horse said:

Do you think, that just by pondering this issue, just by thinking about the importance of good decision making, that in future, you will make better decisions? 

No.  You do need to think, or to reflect, but not exclusively, if at all, on decision making.
 

Quote

 

In other words, by simply raising awareness, and pondering the how's, the whys, the wherefores, you will stop for a moment before making a decision, and choose the right way forward.

Which is the right way forward?

 

I used to be very bad at making decisions with little to base those decisions on. The right way forward is to gain as much life experience as possible.  As one does gain ever more experience, and, most importantly, reflects on those experiences, then gradually one will become better at making decisions.  That is how it works, and that is how it has worked for me.  And this only later in life, for I used to be a poor decision maker..  The more life experience I have, the more confident I become in making decisions.

The point about gaining as much life experience as possible and then reflecting on it is that this is all absorbed by the unconscious mind.  So, this allows one's intuition to work.  I use intuition to make many of my decisions.  I also use knowledge of myself e.g. likes/dislikes etc.  Also, life experience and the ability to reflect on experiences, brings wisdom.  Wisdom is important in making decisions.  So, to take an apparently trivial example of buying  a new kettle, I do not base my decision on appearance.  I check things like stability i.e. how the kettle rests on its stand, I check the position of the on switch (Is it clearly visible/conveniently located?)  Is the lid easy to open/close?  Is the electric cable long enough?  Does the handle sit comfortably in my hand? etc, etc.  Only after all of this, once I have reduced my choice to maybe 2 or 3 kettles, might I then make a final decision based on appearance.  I should add that I rarely look at product reviews unless I am buying on-line, but these are not reliable..  Product reviews I notice too, often base judgement on appearance so I do not think the judgements are based on experience.

Edited November 20, 2019 by littlebrowndragon

[+joc]

2 minutes ago, littlebrowndragon said:

The right way forward is to gain as much life experience as possible.

One can only gain life experience from the living thereof.  But one does not have to have a great deal of life experience to make good decisions.

3 hours ago, Crazy Horse said:

Do you think, that just by pondering this issue, just by thinking about the importance of good decision making, that in future, you will make better decisions?

If then, the issue is...the importance of good decision making...pondering on that question would certainly help one make better decisions.

Pondering Decision Making:

If we ask for instance, How can I make better decisions?  Our pondering will no doubt reflect us to various decisions we have made in the past, both good and not so good.  Pondering how we decided to do what can only help us.  Example:  Yeah, that was a stupid knee jerk reaction...maybe I should count to 10 before I make a quick decision like that.  Example:  I really took to much time trying to decide...and once I decided...the opportunity was no longer available.  I need to be more decisive and less wishy washy.

Pondering anything will bring out of the subconscious a store house of thoughts,  different life experiences,  different memories, for the express purpose of supporting the present conscious thought process.

[Rlyeh]

3 hours ago, Crazy Horse said:

The mind can be tricked, it can be filled with ignorant nonsense and lies. The heart on the other hand never lies.

Because the heart pumps blood, has no decision making functions.

[+Desertrat56]

So here is a good example of a decision that seemed like a bad one at the time, but in the end was the best decision.  I quit my job and moved back to my home state to take care of my mother, thinking with my experience and education I would have a new job fairly quickly.  2 1/2 years later I had gone through my meager 401k (did not have to pay any penalties because I was over 55) and still had no job.  It was a blessing for me to be free to take care of my mother in her last months without having to make arrangements for a job.  When she died I still could not find a job locally and had to move back to Texas to get a job, but it is the best job I have ever had and after 14 months I was allowed to move back to New Mexico and work remotely.  Good decision seeming like a bad one.  It took over 2 1/2 years for me to get my finances back in order but while I was looking I spent a summer earning money as an extra on a movie and two television shows, which was a lot of fun, though not enough to support myself.  Sometimes you just can't know what is a good decision and what is a bad one.

And some decisions that you think are bad (like my marriage) still have benefits (like my kids).  There is no such thing as good decision making unless you are talking about someone who gives their money to someone they don't know who tells them they will tripple it in a month.  That is always a bad decision. Or going out with someone who asks you out when you are both so drunk you can't see straight.  No decisions made in that condition are good decisions.

[littlebrowndragon]

22 minutes ago, joc said:

But one does not have to have a great deal of life experience to make good decisions.

I could not disagree more.  For example, I have had experience of both poverty and starvation.  When I ran out of money last year, I starved, ate no food whatsoever, for 5 weeks.  Such experiences as poverty and starvation enable me to tell when someone is speaking from experience or not.  So, take politicians.  I know that the British PM hasn't a bat's chance in hell - except by pure coincidence - of deciding on good political policies to improve the lives of poor folks in society because he has no life experience of starvation or poverty.  (If he had, my own experiences would tell me he had.).  Boris Johnson et all really do not have a clue about life for those in poverty.  I do have a clue, and that on the basis of "been there, done that, got the t-shirt".  Boris Johnson bases his decisions on...…….well, I was going to say on the intellect i.e. logic/reason, bot he does not even do that.  Men do have a propensity to "think with their balls" and that is what the likes of Johnson does.  Thinking with his balls does not make him good at decision making.  Quite the reverse.

 

Quote

f we ask for instance, How can I make better decisions?  Our pondering will no doubt reflect us to various decisions we have made in the past, both good and not so good.  Pondering how we decided to do what can only help us.  Example:  Yeah, that was a stupid knee jerk reaction...maybe I should count to 10 before I make a quick decision like that.  Example:  I really took to much time trying to decide...and once I decided...the opportunity was no longer available.  I need to be more decisive and less wishy washy.

That sort of decision making is trivial - in fact, it is a bit like making decisions based on appearance. It is intellectualised i.e. spaced out.  Use of intellect alone will not allow people to make good decisions.   It simply won't.  To make a good decision, you need something other than mental games to base the decision on.  That "something" is, quite simply,  life experience.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by littlebrowndragon

[+joc]

11 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

So here is a good example of a decision that seemed like a bad one at the time, but in the end was the best decision.  I quit my job and moved back to my home state to take care of my mother, thinking with my experience and education I would have a new job fairly quickly.  2 1/2 years later I had gone through my meager 401k (did not have to pay any penalties because I was over 55) and still had no job.  It was a blessing for me to be free to take care of my mother in her last months without having to make arrangements for a job.  When she died I still could not find a job locally and had to move back to Texas to get a job, but it is the best job I have ever had and after 14 months I was allowed to move back to New Mexico and work remotely.  Good decision seeming like a bad one.  It took over 2 1/2 years for me to get my finances back in order but while I was looking I spent a summer earning money as an extra on a movie and two television shows, which was a lot of fun, though not enough to support myself.  Sometimes you just can't know what is a good decision and what is a bad one.

And some decisions that you think are bad (like my marriage) still have benefits (like my kids).  There is no such thing as good decision making unless you are talking about someone who gives their money to someone they don't know who tells them they will tripple it in a month.  That is always a bad decision. Or going out with someone who asks you out when you are both so drunk you can't see straight.  No decisions made in that condition are good decisions.

OMG...you are a movie star...awesome!  Was that you on that episode of NCIS?  I'll bet it was...the one where you are standing there across the street from the victim who has just been shot by Russian agents?  I think you were holding a purse or something!  I definitely want your autograph! 

yeah...decisions...Life is like a box of chocolates....

[+Desertrat56]

Just now, joc said:

OMG...you are a movie star...awesome!  Was that you on that episode of NCIS?  I'll bet it was...the one where you are standing there across the street from the victim who has just been shot by Russian agents?  I think you were holding a purse or something!  I definitely want your autograph! 

yeah...decisions...Life is like a box of chocolates....

No, I sat in an orange AMC Hornet on the bridge coming back from Juarez in the movie Sicario.  I was in a scene in a USA program but I can't remember the name of it, I was in 2 episodes but I only saw myself sitting in the police station talking to a cop in the background while the star had an argument with someone.  And I was in 2 episode of that awful CW show about revelations (can't remember the name of that one either).

I am sure I did not get in any scenes in the revelations one except maybe the barbque.  The person managing the extras was out of her element and the costume people ran roughshod over eveything so some people didn't get in scenes because their clothes weren't right.  But my car was in both of the tv shows and the hornet was my brother's.  We got extra money if they used our car.

[littlebrowndragon]

14 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

So here is a good example of a decision that seemed like a bad one at the time, but in the end was the best decision.  I quit my job and moved back to my home state to take care of my mother, thinking with my experience and education I would have a new job fairly quickly.  2 1/2 years later I had gone through my meager 401k (did not have to pay any penalties because I was over 55) and still had no job.  It was a blessing for me to be free to take care of my mother in her last months without having to make arrangements for a job.  When she died I still could not find a job locally and had to move back to Texas to get a job, but it is the best job I have ever had and after 14 months I was allowed to move back to New Mexico and work remotely.  Good decision seeming like a bad one.  It took over 2 1/2 years for me to get my finances back in order but while I was looking I spent a summer earning money as an extra on a movie and two television shows, which was a lot of fun, though not enough to support myself.  Sometimes you just can't know what is a good decision and what is a bad one.

 

You have made some very good points there.  So, one might think one is making a bad decision, but as one lives through it, one sees it was actually a good decision.

 

Quote

And some decisions that you think are bad (like my marriage) still have benefits (like my kids).  There is no such thing as good decision making unless you are talking about someone who gives their money to someone they don't know who tells them they will tripple it in a month.  That is always a bad decision. Or going out with someone who asks you out when you are both so drunk you can't see straight.  No decisions made in that condition are good decisions.

But you gained life experience despite making those bad decisions which will, in turn, enable you to make better decisions next time.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that one has to make "mistakes" in order to gain  some important life experiences.  In other words, one has to be allowed to learn from one's mistakes. 

[+Desertrat56]

Just now, littlebrowndragon said:

You have made some very good points there.  So, one might think one is making a bad decision, but as one lives through it, one sees it was actually a good decision.

 

But you gained life experience despite making those bad decisions which will, in turn, enable you to make better decisions next time.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that one has to make "mistakes" in order to gain  some important life experiences.  In other words, one has to be allowed to learn from one's mistakes. 

Yes, that is why it is a good idea to let a 3 year old chooses the clothes they want to wear.  If it bugs you that they have their pants on backwards or that their shirt is green and their pants are purple get over it, they are learning.  Kids can make decisions and choices (for school maybe let them choose one of two out fits when they are in kindergarten and one of 3 in first grade and then let them be independent after that if clothes are important to you).

A 13 year old who is not allowed to make decisions makes a lot of really bad decisions as a rule when they become 18. 

And there are some who seem to know certain things or have high morals and can't be convinced to do things by their peers.  That doesn't mean that something won't come along that they have to learn by making what might be considered a bad choice.  Everyone has an area they are not adept at.

[littlebrowndragon]

10 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

Yes, that is why it is a good idea to let a 3 year old chooses the clothes they want to wear.  If it bugs you that they have their pants on backwards or that their shirt is green and their pants are purple get over it, they are learning.  Kids can make decisions and choices (for school maybe let them choose one of two out fits when they are in kindergarten and one of 3 in first grade and then let them be independent after that if clothes are important to you).

A 13 year old who is not allowed to make decisions makes a lot of really bad decisions as a rule when they become 18. 

Yes, although I would qualify that by saying that children should only be asked to make decisions appropriate to their age/experience.  For example, in a local stationary shop a few years ago,I witnessed a mother asking her 4 or 5 year old daughter which of three toys she would like the best - her mother intending to buy her daughter whichever she chose.  However, that decision was obviously too much for that particular little girl, for, unable to make a decision, she burst into tears.  The mother did not appear to understand what the problem was and so became somewhat frustrated with her daughter's inability to make a decision as well as her tears.  One has to know an individual's level of ability.

Edited November 20, 2019 by littlebrowndragon

[+Desertrat56]

1 minute ago, littlebrowndragon said:

Yes, although I would qualify that by saying that children should only be asked to make decisions appropriate to their age/experience.  For example, in a local stationary shop a few years ago,I witnessed a mother asking her 4 or 5 year old daughter which of three toys she would like the best - her mother intending to buy her daughter whichever she chose.  However, that decision was obviously too much for that particular little girl, for, unable to make a decision, she burst into tears.  The mother did not appear to understand what the problem was and so became somewhat frustrated with her daughter's inability to make a decision as well as her tears.  One has to know an individual's level of ability.

A choice  between 3 should be appropriate for a 5 year old.  I agree that it should be age appropriate, but also the child's emotional development has to be taken in to account.  My daughter made the mistake of telling her 2 year old son he could choose any costume he wanted and then when he choose the yellow princess dress (because it was yellow, not beacuse it was a dress) she let her boyfriend verbally abuse him about and forbid that he have it and it became a huge issue for weeks.  And I think it left a scare.  If she had been reasonable she could have chosen two and had him pick one.  That is how a two year old can make decisions.  Some people don't pay attention.

[+joc]

31 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

No, I sat in an orange AMC Hornet on the bridge coming back from Juarez in the movie Sicario.  I was in a scene in a USA program but I can't remember the name of it, I was in 2 episodes but I only saw myself sitting in the police station talking to a cop in the background while the star had an argument with someone.  And I was in 2 episode of that awful CW show about revelations (can't remember the name of that one either).

I am sure I did not get in any scenes in the revelations one except maybe the barbque.  The person managing the extras was out of her element and the costume people ran roughshod over eveything so some people didn't get in scenes because their clothes weren't right.  But my car was in both of the tv shows and the hornet was my brother's.  We got extra money if they used our car.

I am soooo going to find that movie and clip out you in the Hornet!   That's awesome...being in the police station talking to a cop while the star is arguing with one!  Classic!  But you know...you got to have that 'real feeling' to make movies believable and YOU are that real feeling person! 

[+Desertrat56]

Just now, joc said:

I am soooo going to find that movie and clip out you in the Hornet!   That's awesome...being in the police station talking to a cop while the star is arguing with one!  Classic!  But you know...you got to have that 'real feeling' to make movies believable and YOU are that real feeling person! 

When I retire I may do it again.  There were a few retired teachers who I made friend with that did it for extra spending money.

[+joc]

43 minutes ago, littlebrowndragon said:

.  I know that the British PM hasn't a bat's chance in hell - except by pure coincidence - of deciding on good political policies to improve the lives of poor folks in society because he has no life experience of starvation or poverty.

Why do you think one needs to experience starving to implement a plan or strategy concerning those who are starving?

My point is that an eight year old can make good decisions or poor decisions.  Experience is determined by how long you have lived for the most part. 

[+joc]

32 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

When I retire I may do it again.  There were a few retired teachers who I made friend with that did it for extra spending money.

Feel free to print this out...autograph it...and send it back to me in a pm!