The Mind Scale

It is almost that time of the year when some of us start doing a retrospection of our life in the last year. We look for what went well and what didn’t. There are few others among us who believe that such an exercise is futile and don’t even bother to invest time in this. This has always been an ongoing debate and could very well be a topic of discussion by itself. Let me not attempt that now. Instead I want to take a look at two distinct personalities among us when it comes to decision making.

Think about this scenario. Someone you know, a family member or a colleague asks you to do an activity. It could be a favour or an action you are asked to do. What is your natural way of responding to such a request? As soon as you are faced with the query, do you respond immediately? Alternately do you try to weigh the pros and cons of the question before even attempting a response? All of us belong to either of these categories.

There are some of us who are super quick with our response. This is a double edged sword. A quick response results in quick decisions. When the decision turns out to be beneficial for both the parties, it can be perceived as a positive decision. But this need not necessarily be the case always. There could be times when rushing to a decision will lead to unwarranted commitments from your side. You may not even have thought through all possible effects of your decision. Since you have given a commitment, you are now left with only two choices. You will be forced to fulfil the promise by taking a hit on your time or budget. Else you will have to go back on your word citing practical difficulties. Both leaves a bitter aftertaste.

The smarter ones do things differently. The moment they are faced with a decision making situation, something deep down in their mind gets activated. There is a mental weighing scale that comes alive in such situations. They’ll promptly put the pros and cons for the request or demand on the scale. A series of magical calculations does a fly past in their mind while they analyse all possible options. A well informed conclusion or decision is reached at the end of this exercise which is promptly communicated to the person who put the request forward. The benefit of this approach is a solid decision which they rarely have to change. If at all someone needs to change, it is usually the person who raised the request who’ll possibly need to make the required amendments.

Most often these difference in personalities are attributes of an individual. You could be born with these or could have inherited it. What is important is to realize the category you belong to. More importantly do an exercise to figure out what was your course of action when you faced such decision making situations in the past. How did you respond? Did you belong to the quick decision category or informed decision category? Did you face any challenges with the decisions you took or was it a cake walk? Did you ever have to go through a lot of pain to fulfil your promise or even had to go back on your words on a second thought? Did you ever tell yourself that you could’ve waited for some time before giving that commitment to someone? If you answered yes, then you may want to consider learning from those people who take informed decisions and apply it very well.

May this festive season help us reflect on our personalities and lead us to understand our decision making skills better. If required, may you be blessed with the courage to bring in the change required so that all your future decisions will be formed and received well!

Wish you all a Merry Christmas!