Remove the Ego for Appropriate Action
posted in Taking Action |“When you are on the Titanic, you lower the lifeboats. You don’t spend time yelling at the iceberg.”
When facing real disasters we tend to act with a rationality devoid of other less perilous situations. Why is this? Because as we go back down the scale our ego gets more involved. Real danger triggers the flight or fight response, whereas lesser situations do not engage this part of the brain, and allow the frontal cortex [ the judgement area] to consider alternatives. Many of these options involve the ego – and that’s usually what is behind poor decision making.
Whether it is personal decisions or business decisions, approaching every event with clarity and a sense of the present brings about the best results. Engaging in past memories or patterns links past emotions to the current event. Future expectations links fear or greed – both of which change the balance of consideration we apply to our decisions.
The more one operates in the present – the more objective one can be.