Wednesday, May 02, 2007
The Informed Decision
Every day you make hundreds of choices, and every choice has an effect. Some choices cause good things to happen to you and others, some choices; well let’s just say not so well. So what can we do to make our daily life better? Make informed decisions.
So what is an informed decision? Simply put it is a decision based on known facts rather than conjecture. This involves using knowledge from all sources, and using this information prudently.
A quick example is needed. There are three neighbors, each has a charcoal grill. During the summer they all learn how to use them to cook. Then comes winter, they all get cold.
The first man thinks to himself that since the grill makes heat it would be a good idea to bring the grill inside so they all would be warm. So he does and he and his family die from the resulting asphyxiation.
The second man knows the grill makes heat, but also knows that the combustion of charcoal creates toxic gases not conductive to life. So he does not use the grill and remains cold, but alive.
The third man realizes the same facts as the second man, but also knows that the toxic gases are heated and rise. So he makes a vent from the top of his grill to the widow, a chimney of sorts, thus he is warm and alive.
As you can see an uninformed decision will have undesirable side effects. A more informed decision has better consequences. The more informed you are the better your choices, and the better your life.
So it must be with you. You must always make informed choices. Some choices have heavier weight than others, so always consider what needs to happen as well as what might happen when you make your decision. In the above example they all needed to be warm. Staying alive is good too… The first man made an uninformed decision, and had dreadful results. The second man made a slightly informed decision and did nothing and remained cold. The third man with just a little extra knowledge, as well as a little extra effort, met his desire for warmth.
There are three main ways to acquire knowledge. The first is observation: Seeing something that brings its existence into your reality, and possibly have a slight understanding of how it works. For example the wonder a child has when they go to the zoo and see all the animals the first time. The kids are full of wonder and awe. Later they want one as a pet. They do not understand that lions, and tigers, and bears, do not make good cuddly pets. They do not have all the information needed to make a good decision.
The second way to gather information is through a teacher. You absorb the information presented. The teacher tells you information; books give you information, and so on. The problem here is that while most teachers are sincere in their efforts to educate, they may not present all the facts. Of course there are some who may not present the facts accurately; leading people to make bad decisions as they base their choices on erroneous information. (That’s why you should always look up the references yourself)
Of course teachers do not have to be professional full time titled teachers. A teacher can be your best friend who shows you how to sew a button, or your dad who tells you to look both ways before crossing the street, and so on. Having a teacher is a good thing, it shortens the learning curve. Sometimes there are just things you do not need to learn the hard way (like getting hit by a car) so it is good to have a teacher.
The third way of learning is experimenting; trial and error. There are of course experiments that fail, and those that succeed. A successful experiment is based on as much information as possible. This also has doing it for the first time yourself, turning theory into practice. People have been cooking food since fire was discovered, but until you have made your first grilled cheese sandwich you really won’t grasp all the points of cooking. You can listen to the chef explain crepes, but until you make one you will not understand fully. Sometimes there just isn’t any information and so it has to be created with experimentation. This then brings us back to observation.
So you combine all three. Observe, absorb, and experiment. Then you use all the information you have to make decisions. Some decisions are easy, like what flavor gum to buy, and others are less so, like what kind of car to buy.
So strive to make informed decisions. Do your homework, your due diligence, your research, and find the information you require. Learn every day. In the words of Albert Einstein; “When you stop leaning, you stop living.”
Be Blessed
A New and Better Universe
So what is an informed decision? Simply put it is a decision based on known facts rather than conjecture. This involves using knowledge from all sources, and using this information prudently.
A quick example is needed. There are three neighbors, each has a charcoal grill. During the summer they all learn how to use them to cook. Then comes winter, they all get cold.
The first man thinks to himself that since the grill makes heat it would be a good idea to bring the grill inside so they all would be warm. So he does and he and his family die from the resulting asphyxiation.
The second man knows the grill makes heat, but also knows that the combustion of charcoal creates toxic gases not conductive to life. So he does not use the grill and remains cold, but alive.
The third man realizes the same facts as the second man, but also knows that the toxic gases are heated and rise. So he makes a vent from the top of his grill to the widow, a chimney of sorts, thus he is warm and alive.
As you can see an uninformed decision will have undesirable side effects. A more informed decision has better consequences. The more informed you are the better your choices, and the better your life.
So it must be with you. You must always make informed choices. Some choices have heavier weight than others, so always consider what needs to happen as well as what might happen when you make your decision. In the above example they all needed to be warm. Staying alive is good too… The first man made an uninformed decision, and had dreadful results. The second man made a slightly informed decision and did nothing and remained cold. The third man with just a little extra knowledge, as well as a little extra effort, met his desire for warmth.
There are three main ways to acquire knowledge. The first is observation: Seeing something that brings its existence into your reality, and possibly have a slight understanding of how it works. For example the wonder a child has when they go to the zoo and see all the animals the first time. The kids are full of wonder and awe. Later they want one as a pet. They do not understand that lions, and tigers, and bears, do not make good cuddly pets. They do not have all the information needed to make a good decision.
The second way to gather information is through a teacher. You absorb the information presented. The teacher tells you information; books give you information, and so on. The problem here is that while most teachers are sincere in their efforts to educate, they may not present all the facts. Of course there are some who may not present the facts accurately; leading people to make bad decisions as they base their choices on erroneous information. (That’s why you should always look up the references yourself)
Of course teachers do not have to be professional full time titled teachers. A teacher can be your best friend who shows you how to sew a button, or your dad who tells you to look both ways before crossing the street, and so on. Having a teacher is a good thing, it shortens the learning curve. Sometimes there are just things you do not need to learn the hard way (like getting hit by a car) so it is good to have a teacher.
The third way of learning is experimenting; trial and error. There are of course experiments that fail, and those that succeed. A successful experiment is based on as much information as possible. This also has doing it for the first time yourself, turning theory into practice. People have been cooking food since fire was discovered, but until you have made your first grilled cheese sandwich you really won’t grasp all the points of cooking. You can listen to the chef explain crepes, but until you make one you will not understand fully. Sometimes there just isn’t any information and so it has to be created with experimentation. This then brings us back to observation.
So you combine all three. Observe, absorb, and experiment. Then you use all the information you have to make decisions. Some decisions are easy, like what flavor gum to buy, and others are less so, like what kind of car to buy.
So strive to make informed decisions. Do your homework, your due diligence, your research, and find the information you require. Learn every day. In the words of Albert Einstein; “When you stop leaning, you stop living.”
Be Blessed
A New and Better Universe
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