What makes a good choice? What makes a bad choice?
Years ago I took the thoughtful advice of a colleague. It turned out to be bad advice. The colleague's advice was well researched and thoughtful, but he couldn't predict the life events that would occur. I took another colleague's advice in another matter, and that turned out to be great advice, advice that has empowered my life in many ways.
Good choice, bad choice, what makes the difference?
There's never a 100% guarantee with any choice we make. While life typically rolls along as we expect, there are big events that alter life in ways both positive and negative. We can't always predict what those events will be and when they will happen.
Some life-enriching choices I made on my own and with others include the following:
Years ago I took the thoughtful advice of a colleague. It turned out to be bad advice. The colleague's advice was well researched and thoughtful, but he couldn't predict the life events that would occur. I took another colleague's advice in another matter, and that turned out to be great advice, advice that has empowered my life in many ways.
Good choice, bad choice, what makes the difference?
There's never a 100% guarantee with any choice we make. While life typically rolls along as we expect, there are big events that alter life in ways both positive and negative. We can't always predict what those events will be and when they will happen.
Some life-enriching choices I made on my own and with others include the following:
- getting a college education
- standing by my values
- working towards attaining some of my deepest and most desired dreams
- marrying a good man
- putting family first
- investing in positive professional growth
- saving money
- studying buying a house, and then buying a house which turned out to be a good home and a good investment
Some choices I've made that were not so positive include the following:
- judging others too quickly
- hasty responses and decisions
- ending my doctoral program due to child care/work needs (I should have taken out a loan to cover the costs of child care and finished the program)
- not obtaining my professional advancement credits under an umbrella topic such as a curriculum specialty or leadership
- not making enough time for my personal needs as a young mother--young mothers have to carve out time to take care of themselves
With many decisions on the horizon, I'm evaluating what makes a good choice and what makes a bad choice. For the most part, no decision is all-good or all-bad, but instead falls on the continuum of some goods and some not-so-goods. This is an important consideration in anyone's life. Onward.