{"id":37542,"date":"2024-04-16T07:38:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T14:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37542"},"modified":"2024-04-16T08:49:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T15:49:14","slug":"applying-good-judgment-to-everyday-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/applying-good-judgment-to-everyday-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Applying Good Judgment to Everyday Decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day there are decisions that require the application of wisdom, or good judgment. Do I say yes or no to this speaking engagement? What 2 or 3 things are most important for me to accomplish today? What personal rules guide me away from impulses? Ultimately, there are so many decisions that we have to make each day, but most of us could use some help to get clarity.<\/p>\n

Shane Parrish\u2019s Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results<\/em> guides the reader to take time to apply reasoning to decision-making and avoid being backed into a corner. Parrish has gathered an organized 5-part system to help people apply mechanisms to make better decisions by what he calls \u201cproper positioning\u201d. [1]<\/p>\n

This allows us to turn choices we are presented with every day into better decisions. How? Through the exercise of sound judgment. Parrish claims, \u201cImproving your judgment, it turns out, is less about accumulating tools to enhance your rationality and more about implementing safeguards that make the desired path the path of least resistance\u201d. [2] Although this is the central theme in the book, I would like to pull out a concept that stood out to me, proper positioning.<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, Parrish\u2019s proper positioning woven into his mechanics of decision-making speaks to self-coaching. \u00a0Positioning oneself properly allows a person \u201cto master [their] circumstances rather than be mastered by them.\u201d [3] He describes this moment as one of \u201cpause\u201d and \u201ctaking a step back.\u201d [4] Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky call this \u2018Getting on the balcony\u2019, where the most difficult thing to notice in a situation is yourself, and specifically \u201cthat part of yourself that others would see if they were looking down from the balcony\u201c [5] In other words, we must apply what Heifetz and Linsky call \u201ccontemplation in action\u201d to solve the right problems. [6]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In coaching, self-location in the midst of a problem is built into the flow of the \u201cGROW\u201d model, developed by Sir. John Whitmore in 1992. Through addressing internal obstacles, or seeing goals and reality from a wider lens (like on a balcony), one gets more clarity about the situation. [7] Tom Camacho develops this self-location as a spiritual discipline in coaching by pausing to think of our God-given \u201csweet spot\u201d for flourishing. [8] We are not designed to do everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parrish guides us to move past the internal enemies of clear thinking in Part 1 (which include emotional, ego, social, and inertia defaults) [9] in order to build internal strengths of self-location in Part 2. These include self-accountability, self-knowledge, self-control, and self-confidence. [10] I think it is an important aspect of sound judgment to include what is going on within us, to give us an advantage in weighing decisions that we need to make. On this point, there is a similarity to how Daniel Kahneman, one of Parrish\u2019s heroes, tries to guide us from \u201cSystem 1 to system 2 thinking\u201d which requires slowing down, and paying attention to our auto-pilot responses. [11] Similarly, David Rock\u2019s \u201cARIA\u201d model helps unlocking impasses in the mind, moving us from awareness to reflection to insight to action. [12]<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, sober self-judgment is crucial for decision-making, self-coaching, and leading with integrity. In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul writes \u201cDo not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.\u201d (Romans 12:3) As much as I think the lessons of clear decision-making will be tailored towards business success, there is much to be applied here to making decisions that allow our lives to have worth on a holistic level.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

____________<\/p>\n

[1] Shane Parrish, <\/span>Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results<\/span><\/em>.<\/em> (Penguin Canada, 2023), Kindle edition, xv.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Parrish,\u00a0Clear Thinking<\/em>, 246.<\/p>\n

[3] Parrish, Clear Thinking<\/em>, xv.<\/p>\n

[4] Parrish, Clear Thinking<\/em>, 40.<\/p>\n

[5] Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky, <\/span>Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading<\/em>,<\/span> (Harvard Business Review Press, 2002), Kindle edition, 54.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky, <\/span>Leadership on the Line<\/em>, 51.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7] \u201cThe GROW Model\u201d, (Accessed April 16, 2024), https:\/\/www.performanceconsultants.com\/grow-model. GROW is an acronym that stands for Goal, Reality, Options, and Will.<\/p>\n

[8] Tom Camacho, <\/span>Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom Leaders Through Coaching<\/em>,<\/span> (London: IVP, 2019), 74.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[9] Parrish, Clear Thinking<\/em>, Part 1.<\/p>\n

[10] Parrish, Clear Thinking<\/em>, Part 2.<\/p>\n

[11] Daniel Kahneman, <\/span>Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/span><\/em>.<\/em> (Doubleday Canada, 2011), Chapter 1. See Parish,\u00a0Clear Thinking<\/em>, ix where Kahneman is listed as a hero.<\/span><\/p>\n

[12] David Rock, <\/span>Your Brain at Work, Revised and Updated: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long,<\/span> (HarperCollins, 2020), Kindle edition, 81.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every day there are decisions that require the application of wisdom, or good judgment. Do I say yes or no to this speaking engagement? What 2 or 3 things are most important for me to accomplish today? What personal rules guide me away from impulses? Ultimately, there are so many decisions that we have to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3178],"class_list":["post-37542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp03-parrish","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37542"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37554,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37542\/revisions\/37554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}