[Neurons] 2020 Neurons #68 DECISION TIME

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall   

2020 Neurons #68

December 28, 2020

 

DECISION TIME

 

Yes it is that time of year!  As we approach the beginning of a brand new
year- it is the time to reflect and take stock of where you are, how you're
doing, and where you want to go.  We talk about it as a time for New Year
resolutions.  The idea of a new year suggests that we can make other things
new in our lives.  So we think about making a decision.

 

Now isn't that exciting?  Of course, I'm being a bit sarcastic.  That's
because, for most people, making a decision doesn't strike them as exciting,
but difficult, needless, or even futile.  Many have made New Year resolution
one after another and typically they are long forgotten by February, let
alone in August.  After years of resolutions that were not so resolute, and
which never went anywhere, many simply stop making them.  Why make a New
Year's resolution if you know yourself well enough that you will not follow
through?

 

The great majority of decisions that we make in life are of the
quick-decide-now version.  We make decisions about what to wear, eat, and
say in that way.  It is a shot-from-the-hip type of decision making, usually
based on how we feel in the moment.  We make decisions based on a gut
feeling, an intuition, a particular context, in response to someone else,
etc.  No wonder then that we have a lot of practice in making real authentic
decisions that are life transforming.

 

Now unknown to most people, within smart decisions is a hidden structure.  A
strategic process actually governs intelligent decisions that people make
and it is a strategy that you can learn.  Interesting enough it is based on
the most fundament process that your brain engages in- thinking.  That's
because, ultimately, you can make decisions no better than you can think.
Thinking and deciding are two brain processes which are highly
collaborative.

 

This is what puts so many people off from making an authentic decision- it
requires the mental effort of thinking.  It requires establishing a desired
outcome based on your actual values (and not your "should" values) relative
to what's realistic in terms of your competencies and environment. As you
are engaged in that, you begin to do information gathering or due diligence
which, in turn, allows you to face the challenges of the changes and prepare
for them with some contingency planning.  And all of that requires a lot of
thinking.  

 

Now there's a part of your brain that does that kind of thinking.  It occurs
in the pre-frontal lobes of your cortext.  That's where you do abstract
thinking in terms of concepts and principles.  That's where you do
consequential thinking in terms of trends, possibilities, probabilities,
long-term sequencing of activities, etc.  It is there also that you make
executive decisions.  Ah, yes, executive decisions- decisions that affect
your whole system.  Decisions that set up the policies and rules that, in
turm, govern your life.

 

To escape from making executive decisions is to live in the moment and go
with any wind that blows your way.  It is to live your life reactively to
the people and events and circumstances around you.  But you can be the CEO
of your company- the company of You.  You can make executive decisions about
what's important (your values), how you want to be (your personality), what
you want to be engaged in (your work and career), who you want to be with
(your friends and loved ones), etc.

 

Here's an area of development that would do most everyone a lot of good-
cultivating one's ability to engage in truly intelligent decision-making.
First and foremost this gives a sense of being in charge of your own life.
It develops your confidence that you can make a decision in such a way that
it becomes lifestyle- you carry it through.  Your decisions are sustainable.
You can make choices about things and then make those things happen.  You
are decisive, disciplined, and proactive.

 

One of the biggest problems with decisions is that we humans are notorious
for making bad decisions.  We all do.  And just as the cognitive biases,
distortions and fallacies undermine healthy and sane thinking, they
undermine smart decision making.  There are, in fact, lots of decision traps
that are so easy to fall into.  The solution?  Learn the strategy within the
process of robust and wise decision-making.  If you're ready, then start
with a meta-decision- decide that you will learn how to make truly
well-formed and intelligent decisions.

 

 

 

Coming Soon

.        Executive Decisions (2020): Art of Making Smart Decisions.  Coming
in January 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

 

To unsubscribe to Neurons, send request to meta at acsol.net  

Humor is a meta-perspective about incongruity, exaggeration, playfulness,
and even absurdity.

For a touch of humor --- see the new book --- HUMOROUS THINKING  (2020)

 

 



 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20201227/ad6f5a97/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 364 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20201227/ad6f5a97/attachment.png>