Do you TAKE a decision or just MAKE it?
It has a mind boggling distinction, discovered through the discussions I had this week.
I was working on a video for my mentor and he kept shifting between ‘Make’ and ‘Take’ with respect to a decision. That got me contemplating too hard if making a decision and taking a decision are one and the same - or are there any differences between the two. So I took to Instagram and posted a story to see what my followers think about this. Surprisingly, a lot of them responded back and brought forth quite a few interesting, compelling arguments. All of those arguments boiled down broadly into two contexts - one of Action and the other of Choices.
The Choices Context
Of all the responses I received, a lot of them seemed to align perfectly with the choices context. People felt that if they have a lot of options (for decisions) to choose from, they TAKE one. Otherwise, they MAKE it.
The Action Context
Very few people see themselves aligned with this definition, along with myself. We MAKE decisions all the time in our heads, but only a few of us actually translate those decisions and TAKE them into action.
Based on these two perspectives, it’s becoming clear that they both are distinct in their own accord; yet are quite similar. Let me break this down for you in simple language.
I largely live inside my head than I actually do in real life. I’m sure a lot of us feel the same way about ourselves, living in the mind palaces that we built. We keep thinking about something or the other all the time, contemplating, articulating; or just wondering. When these thoughts - precede or call for - an action, we are posed with an opportunity to decide whether to go forward or back off. At this juncture all that we’re supposed to decide upon is whether to act on our thought; or not.
There are certain times, when these thoughts don’t originate in our own head; but others’. You’re presented with them on a silver platter by someone, for you to pick from. You get options/choices to select from and decide for yourself. Here, you are supposed to decide upon which one to pick; and inevitably, act upon.
If you have the privilege to have your options presented to you, by all means, you TAKE one and act. Otherwise, you need to MAKE them in your head - as many as you want and then you must invariably, TAKE one.
Bring it all together…
So, you first make a decision and then you take it. If someone’s already made a decision for you, you need to call the shots on whether or not to take it.
Here are some interesting implications for the extreme end scenarios.
If you have made all your decisions, but haven’t really taken any; Then, you’re suffering from inaction. You need to realize and be aware of that, and maybe rethink if this is what you want to do.
Action always precedes Inaction, even if the outcome isn’t what you were looking for.
If you haven’t made any of your decision, but have taken a lot; Then, you’re not really in control of your life. You’re letting someone else take shots on what you should (or shouldn’t) do.
Take responsibility for your own life and your decisions, lest you would be clueless without your ringmaster.
All we need is to find and strike a balance between these two extremities. There’s nothing wrong in making all your decisions. But you need to take those decisions and act upon them. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time overthinking. Sometimes, when you’re finding it difficult to just take one of these decisions you have made, you can definitely explore some other choices suggested by your friends or family and take one from that. There’s nothing wrong in that either. But what’s not cool is either sitting in inaction or letting someone else call all your shots.
I’m someone who makes a lot of decisions, but seldom takes them all. I still consider myself to be a person of action as I act upon most of them. But I make even more decisions than I actually take. That’s my demon putting in all the ideas in my head. I mean, who even cares what you do with your life apart from your first-degree connections? Nobody does, right! This shouldn’t be that hard a call to make.
In summary, a note to self: make only as much decisions as you require and take them when you have the chance.
Be a responsible man of action. Don’t just make decisions; take them.
Lesson of the Week
The world doesn’t revolve around you.
We are the center of our own universe and we think that everyone else extends out from us. But it’s not true. Everyone is the center of their own universe and they all have a world of their own. They all have their own joys, sorrows, successes and failures. Just realize and be aware that we are not entitled for anything - neither to problems, nor to opportunities. The world doesn’t owe us anything. It is common for all of us, regardless of our gender, class, race, religion or anything. We make this world a better place for ourselves first; and try and do the same for others.
Quote of the Week
You are what you do. Not what you say you will do. - Ankur Warikoo
This one’s coming straight from my mentor and I’m sure a lot of people might have said this in different variations all across the years. But I haven’t seen anyone actually making efforts to get these quotes made into wallpapers that you can stare at your phone everyday as a reminder.
You can check out his amazing collection of quote wallpapers here.
Read of the Week
How to develop self confidence and improve public speaking by Dale Carnegie
This is my current read and I started reading this very recently. I must admit that I quite like it already and I would love to explore more into this topic. I have delivered a lot of public speeches before with confidence since my school days. But I have always never been able to articulate everything inside my head into words exactly. I’m finding this problem and a lot of people have pointed it over to me saying that I speak too fast, too much and all by myself, making it into more of a monologue. I see myself as a 6th grade kid studying for his exams out loud and is reciting his proses to himself to register it in his memory. This is when I realized I need guidance on this topic and the Carnegie himself has a book, so I didn’t think twice before jumping in. Although, I’m experimenting with ebooks this time around because it’s easier to carry everywhere.
Buy this book on Amazon here or find on Google Play Books here.
Editorial Notes
I fell back last week and I didn’t deliver one edition, breaking my consistency goal. That was because I was traveling the whole week from one city to another and I wasn’t able to establish a zone for me to process my thoughts and articulate them. But I realized that I should keep slacking and I started working on this edition as soon as I got the idea and here it is, delivered to your mailbox! There are quite some interesting topics lined up, but if you would want me to pick my mind about some topic, feel free to drop them over and leave the overthinking part to me, I’m anyway seemingly good at it.
Wishing you only the most and the best,
Ash.