Self improvement and motivation

 by: Brian Maloney

Foresight is a tool we should all have in our war chests. However, many of us disregard this critical thought process. If I drink this much and drive my car, I just might crash, killing myself or someone else. If I talk about my boss behind his back to the wrong person, I could get fired for some trivial reason.

Almost everyone knows the difference between right and wrong, but do we all apply thinking with consequential logic before committing our wrongs? Probably not. The reasons are plenty, but simply put, many of us are too lazy or careless.

If it is lazy, that can be more easily fixed than that of careless. Lazy is just that, lazy. Working a little extra hard by churning the brain with logic before minor or major decisions creates a more seamless living environment for not only yourself, but everyone around you.

Careless is more difficult to fix because the person is caring less about something that requires someone to yield more care. This is a fundamental disregard for the situation or an inadequate comprehension of the dynamics of that particular situation or decision.

Usually people other than yourself are involved, assuming you have careless tendencies. Let me clarify with an example: You are on a roof reshingling with a working partner, but you are a level below him/her and this person would like to get down to your level. They ask if you could set the step ladder up so they can get down, so you do. By not holding the ladder tightly as the person descends, they fall and die.

This is a blatant example of disregarding someone else’s safety by not caring enough. It could also be construed as lazy; however, in this situation it is more likely that carelessness trumps laziness big time.

In this hypothetical example, if this person thinks with consequential logic, they would know that leaving the ladder unsecured while this person is stepping down could have deadly consequences.

This mindset should be on automatic pilot all the time. However, many people think their logic is fine when they pass another car when climbing a hill. Their thinking is it shouldn’t matter because it’s a new V6. This is skewed thinking because logically you should, under any circumstances, never attempt this maneuver. However, putting too much hope and faith into something and thinking that everything will be just fine is always asking for trouble.

When thinking under a more controlled mindset, logic will prevail and instead of always wearing the rosy glasses hoping everything will turn out fine, you will have assurance knowing certain variables need to add up before a decision is made.

If this mindset is not taken seriously, problems, trouble, and dysfunction in relationships and employment will more than likely always follow.

Taking the extra time to pause and let the brain logically process any given scenario without obscuring its reality, can only benefit any perspective person. Life will consistently throw curve balls at you, but using consequential logic when critical thinking or not, makes for a better life.