Welcome back, everybody, to Thoughts If It Were
You, Food for Thought by Neogentrics. Like I promised,
we're going to go ahead and cover learning to
use your moral compass, the morality trait of
goodness. It may sound like an old -fashioned
term, conjuring up images of Jane Eyre or other
historical heroines, but... It is also the foundation
of living well and ethically, okay? Goodness
acts as a compass, if you will. If Aristotle's
virtues generally are a guide or a map for how
to live, goodness is the compass that enables
us to read the map the right way and work our
way up and work out which way to actually go.
So this brings up the question, what is right?
Right is not used here to describe a predetermined
course of action, but the ones that is correct
for you in that it is consistent with both Aristotle's
virtues and the description of a good life and
your own personal values. Crucially, your moral
compass points towards a life that will allow
you to flourish as a human being and hopefully
to have few regrets about the way that you have
lived in the past. You have to work out where
you stand. Perhaps the first steps to becoming
more conscious of your own moral compass and
moving towards living a good life is to think
about what you don't do well. What is your kryptonite,
as they say, when it comes to life? Okay? So
let's go over a couple of questions. Are you...
inclined to hesitate over decisions. If you are,
perhaps you spend too much time worrying about
what is the right thing to do and not acting
on your decisions. Or, maybe you're inclined
to act too quickly without thinking through the
consequences of your actions. Or, if it's not
that, maybe you're inclined to be swayed or influenced
by other people. Rather, than making your own
decisions. It is important to take into account
what others think, but if that conflicts with
what you think is right, or you are swayed by
them, don't you think that there's a problem?
Or maybe the last thing here. You're inclined
to hold too firmly to your own views. Even when
everyone else you know, including people whose
opinion you value, thinks that you are wrong.
Being right isn't always the right answer. Once
you have identified your weaknesses, you can
then start to think about how you might use your
moral compass to overcome them. We're going to
take a short break here, and then we're going
to copper, uh, copper, sorry, cover using your
moral compass. Welcome back. Like I said, we're
going to cover using your moral compass now.
There are three main steps to using your moral
compass to inform your decisions and your actions.
First things first, gather information. The main
question you should ask yourself before you act
is, what do I need to know to make a better decision
about what to do? Well... The answer to this
question comes from your history and memories
of past situations that were similar, enabling
you to learn from your experience, both success
and failure, your understanding of what needs
to be done, and your values, and what you would
need to do to act well, or how you could use
the situation to improve yourself in some way.
Together, these sources of information will help
you to understand how you can apply what you
already know to the situation. It is vital that
you are honest with yourself about what you are
and are not capable of, and the effects of your
actions in the past as you will either otherwise
repeat previous mistakes. Stuff that you probably
don't want to do. As Einstein said, insanity
is repeating the same behavior and expecting
a different result. This process doesn't have
to take long. In fact, it may be done in just
a few minutes. It's the fact of going through
the processes effectively that is important,
not the time it takes. Two, evaluate and consider
the information that you have gathered. Now you
need to make a judgment about the relative merits
and values of all the information that you have
gathered. You also need to consider what kind
of action or response would fit your values and
would have a good effort for both you and those
around you. It's important to be open -minded
in evaluation. And you may want to involve other
people at this stage. It's a good thing to seek
help with difficult decisions or when you don't
know what to do. But do be aware that if you
have a tendency to hesitate or delay decision
making, you may be playing to your weaknesses
instead of helping yourself. Third, decide and
then do. This sounds very action focused, but
you also need to include consideration of How
you act, boldly, carefully, gently, firmly, you
know, you get the idea, so on. Consider the effects
of your actions on yourself and others. Crucially,
the action that you take should express the way
that you hope or wish to be. You know, if you
have a tendency to hesitate, then concentrate
on deciding and then acting swiftly. Understand
that you can't know everything and everyone,
and there will always be an element of risk in
any decision. Sometimes the fact of the decision
is more important than its content. Equally,
if you have a tendency to rush blindly in and
then take a moment to pause and then consider
the likely effects of your actions, including
the risks for you and others. Welcome back. Last
thing I want to cover, and this is a short segment
here for this last half of this podcast, living
well. At the end of the day, being good or living
well is all about balance. Balance between reason
and emotion, and between your needs and those
of others, and between pragmatism and the perfect
solution. You will have a reasonable chance of
achieving this balance if you say that you know
what you ought to do, in the situation. Drawing
on your experience, how to do it, and what effect
it will have on both you and others, rationally
and emotionally. Well, that only leaves one question
left. It's whether you can see a way in which
you can do this that is consistent with your
values. Remember, you need to keep your values
consistent, focus on the task at hand that you're
aiming for, Once again, gather the information
that you need and build on it. Learn from past
mistakes, but don't let them repeat themselves.
Again, I want to thank you for listening to my
podcast. This is Food for Thought, thoughts if
it were you, by Neogentrics. And remember, always
consider the other person and your actions and
the way they affect other people. Enjoy the rest
of your day.