Are You An Opportunity Seeker or Risk Reducer?
Many of us spend our time thinking of the desired destination of our life’s work. But have you ever considered how you reached where you are today? You reached the place that you are at now because of a series of decisions. That also includes all of your “decisions” not to act or make a choice. It is a difficult decision to examine the road that you have chosen to travel thus far. We have all made mistakes, not done things that we should have, and made poor choices. I am asking you to engage in a bit of self-examination for a purpose: in order to get where you want to go, you must analyze how you make decisions.
Consider the thousands of small decisions that you make each day. Most of your decisions are mundane in nature (e.g., what to have for breakfast). Occasionally, you have the opportunity to make a big decision. Your choices with respect to the big decisions not only chart the course of your life, but they also say a lot about your underlying philosophy of life.
There are several ways to make a decision. It is always best to act decisively. Your decision can be made after carefully weighing your options. It can be made with little consideration about the consequences of your actions. It can also fall anywhere on a continum between those two extremes.
There is, however, a more passive, method of decision-making. You can also reject the opportunity to make a decision.
So, now I have a question for you: Are you an opportunity seeker or a risk reducer.
I’m not suggesting that you should go out and make wild or irresponsible decisions.
My parents were children of the depression. The mantra in our home as “work and save.” That philosophy is certainly sound, but my parents used it to the extreme. They always planned to save their money and enjoy retirement. The only problem was, they both died of cancer before they were able to retire and enjoy the fruit of their work. I have decided to use a modified version of that philosophy: “work hard, save for the future, but live in the present and enjoy each day.”
Use the following decision making checklist
How you reached where you are today will impact where you will go tomorrow unless you decide to change the way that you make decisions.
Take time today to consider where on the continum you fall between being an opportunity seeker or a risk reducer. Then decide if your decision making pattern will help you reach your personal pinnacle of success. If it is a road block rather than a ??, choose to change how you make decisions for the rest of your life.
agic � h g ����ortunity for growth and rebirth, or as an excuse to allow the gift that we have been given to slip through our fingers.
ext-in{ � :5���� style=’layout-grid-mode:line’>Second, think about what you do that reinforces your negative outlook on life. Every person has a series of habits that have become ingrained. Some habits, such as brushing your teeth twice a day, are good. Others are bad. Do you set yourself up for failure? Have you decided to measure yourself by an unrealistic yardstick?
