Look Before You Leap

Making a blind judgment and action is quite of the most dangerous and risky thing a person can do. However, even how bad this may seem, many still act and behave recklessly and imprudently when it comes to certain life-changing decisions in one's life. Moreover, although it may seem reckless, some are left with no option but to act anyway. This is where the dilemma lies, and this will be the focus of this blogpost. 

Look First

Assessing the entire situation is a must, but not all times this is possible. At times, our minds are clouded with strong emotions such that we could not simply mesh out the details of the reality presenting to us. By looking first means putting one in a objective view, removing biases and reassessing potential subjectivities. We are ofcourse humans with feelings, but we are deemed to be rational, maybe not at all times. The tug-of-war between emotions and rationality keeps one from effectively evaluating situations, leading to solutions and good decisions and actions.

Perhaps, the ultimate question would be how to control one's emotions to be more objective. There are advantages actually of controlling one's emotions. But the right way to handle emotions is not to dampen or supress its expression, instead emotions should be expressed fully, but the pace of expression is controlled. Therefore, it is not the emotion that is controlled, but the manner it is revealed. One could delay reactions, although this is quite difficult when one is angry or sad. However, restrain in doing something destructive due to sudden burst of emotion  may be beneficial in an attempt to get a good overview of things. Looking first means one has the maturity to know when and how emotions are expressed with the objective of postponing any reaction to assess events better.

Then Leap

Taking action is the most important thing in this process. Merely assessing although done effectively will not yield anything without actions. However, in this discussion, leaping is considered an action beyond the risk threshold. It means although one has gained good overview of the situation, there are still things that are left unanswered or simply vague. This is quite common. This is the reason why a leap is still needed. It is almost blind and unclear, but it must be done based on an objective assessment that is either incomplete or unclear.

Ofcourse, no one could guarantee that the result of leaping is favorable. As described, the overveiw made maybe vague even objective. Everything was done to make the situation analysis objective as possible. However, the overview may not certainly secure positive results. There are still many alternative actions, most of them equally beneficial or disadvantageous. The only thing left to do is just to try making an action. This means that leaping is part of a trial-and-error mechanism. One could fail still, and in fact the chances of failure is still considerably high. The only thing one could do after failing is to try another alternative. The next option may still fail, so one has to be have courage and patience until the desired result is attained.

The point of this blogpost is to simply highlight the essence of making an attempt to assess situations first before making a risky action. At least the risks are known beforehand. Those risks may not diminished but at least it is recognized as a risk in the assessment stage. One needs not to have a detailed counterplan to address all the identified risks. When one seemingly has a good view, leap then. One should not be afraid to fail, because in this way we learn. In learning from our mistakes, we avoid them in the future, improving our assessment skills and enhancing the way we look unto situations and act on them.