"… for emotion is the enemy of rational argument. And as emotions go, one of them – fear – is more potent than the rest."
- Steven D. Levitt, author of Freakonmoics
As noted prior, one of my favorite shows is HOUSE, M.D. I am attracted to the logic and rationalization of PROBLEM SOLVING in contrast with the supporting characters desire to think emotionally or irrationally link symptoms with causes.
I find that many people are GUILTY of the same "logic crimes" day after day. We focus on what we BELIEVE to be a cause and irrationally link two things together that do not make sense. We think because we made 20 cold phone calls a day for a week that the next weeks' sales are related to that effort. When in fact, it could be that two large deals finally received approval from 12 months ago.
When we argue positions or try to defend actions, we often replace FACTS with EMOTIONS. We state what we BELIEVE, as opposed to what is true. We do not want to look at the numbers of documents, simply because it is easier in our mind to defend our feelings.
2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
Think of the last time you were upset with someone – a friend, a spouse, a client – and what the REAL issue was. Were you mad at them? Were you upset with the situation? Were you defending your ego, emotions or those of someone you care for?
One of the more CHALLENGING requirements of leadership is the ability to REMOVE emotion from rational decision-making. This also requires us to FILTER out the emotions of others rhetoric-latent tactics, as well as our own. Philosophically, one might suggest, that you need to have the AWARENESS of a third person. Not an easy task…
Yet, ponder the greater effectiveness and continuity you could achieve if you just decided from the facts… and stopped letting your EMOTIONS hold you back!
Cheers,
Zach
*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com
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