Our life as humans is built on the actions we take. There are actions that are hard-wired in our machinery but then there are actions which are deliberate.
We are talking about those actions specifically. These actions are fueled by our thinking. And here comes the inner conflict about whether to act or to think.
People who have the ‘just do it’ attitude ask themselves “why do I act before thinking?”.
People who are more of the ‘think twice’ nature ponder upon the question of whether they are overthinking and failing to execute.
Let’s talk about the pros of both these so-called life-changing advice.
Just Do It:
You are able to execute faster. You are not spending time analysing the IFs and BUTs of your decision. You are not trying to figure out what happens next. You're just committing to the work you need to do. That’s it.
Apart from that, it gives a certain type of mental satisfaction. A sense of freedom. You feel like on the top of the world after following what you have in your heart carelessly.
Think Twice:
This approach generally results in better judgement. You analyze the rights and wrongs of your decision. You think about the impact it can have on you and the people around you. You are also able to classify whether the urge to act is genuine or fueled by someone else for their own benefit. These things have a sure benefit in the long term.
One more thing this does is that it equips us with the ability to make decisions against the unconscious biases and prejudices we have. This is a requirement in the upcoming world.
Now we know the benefits. But the dangers of both are to be mentioned as well.
People have lost successful businesses by not thinking deeply and taking actions based on the inner feeling. The attitude is directly related to the development of impulsive behaviour.
Similarly, when you think a lot about your decisions you get stuck in a loop of WHAT IFs and SHOULDs. What if this happens, should I do that and so on. Also, this makes you conform to societal pressure and leave your dreams.
Eric Bonabeau puts it best in his article on decision making in Harvard Business Review: “Intuition has its place in decision making—you should not ignore your instincts any more than you should ignore your conscience—but anyone who thinks that intuition is a substitute for reason is indulging in a risky delusion.”
It’s difficult to pinpoint a single procedure but I have a few rules of mine to help me in this conundrum. If my intuition or just do it attitude harms anyone else, it’s not worth it. Similarly, if I am leaving it only to please someone again not worth it. Generally, I use both of the approaches simultaneously. If the idea of doing something comes from intuition, I develop the idea with reasoning and logic. If the idea comes from logic, then I build it with how I feel about it.
But it’s not that I’ve figured it all out. Sometimes there's a war between both. There are times when the inner feeling rises stronger and then there are times when you have let go of your feelings in front of the logical thinking.
What do you think about this INNER CONFLICT? Share below in comments.
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Keshav At Earth.
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