Former New York Yankees and New York Mets player, manager and coach, Yogi Berra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra), is known for his outrageous quotes. Yogi once said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." While you struggle through thinking what Yogi might have meant, let's talk about decision making.
A fork in the road usually means a choice between going left or going right. Sometimes the decision is obvious and easy. Sometimes the decision takes more analysis. For those bigger, far-reaching decisions, get appropriate counsel. (As Solomon wrote in Proverbs 24:6, "... in abundance of counselors, there is victory.") Sometimes both left and right are good decisions. Here is the thing. When you come to a fork in the road, you have to make a decision and act on it. Because, as my senior pastor, James MacDonald (http://jamesmacdonald.com/), said in a sermon a while back, "Not making a decision about something you need to make a decision about is making a decision." Analysis paralysis is a decision. It is not a good decision, but it is a decision.
So as you approach a fork in the road, avoid analysis paralysis. Instead think through and discuss the pros and cons of going left versus going right, make a decision and move with appropriate speed down that path. If you get down that path and realize going right would have been better than going left as you did, admit the error, learn from it, course correct and keep moving. Remember no decision is a decision. See there is some bit of wisdom in what Yogi Berra said about taking the fork in the road.
On a somewhat related note, if you ever come to a spork (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spork) in the road, follow Yogi Berra's advice completely. Take it. Sporks are great. More on that another time.
Showing posts with label Decisions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Decisions. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
9/11 9 Years Later
I spoke at the monthly Men's Breakfast at my church earlier this month. This ministry year, we are focusing on being prepared for spiritual warfare. When I picked the month to speak at Men's Breakfast, it occurred to me that the first breakfast of the new ministry year would be September 11th. And immediately I thought there could be a tie between the September 11, 2001 attacks on America and the spiritual warfare theme.
As I finalized my message Friday night it struck me that I would be getting up to speak at about the same time that United Airlines Flight 93 took off from Newark on September 11th nine years ago. United 93 was the plane where the passengers stormed the cockpit and forced a crash landing in rural Pennsylvania to thwart the terrorist attack on the US Capitol building 124 miles away in Washington, DC. So I used the story of the American heroes on United 93 that had to make a choice very quickly that morning that they could have never imagined -- whether to strike back against terrorists and give up their life to win out over evil -- to open on Saturday morning. As I told the story in a summary timeline of the events on United 93 on September 11, 2001, and showed pictures of the WTC towers on fire, many men listening Saturday morning wiped tears away from their eyes. The emotional clarity that comes with a crisis or crucible like those attacks is hard to match in everyday life. But I challenged the men Saturday morning to be continually preparing spiritually for whatever may come their way from the enemy. We cannot wait for a crisis. There is no time for preparing in the crisis.
The time for preparing is now. The time for major decisions -- some of which if we are honest with ourselves we should have made already -- is now. So when we walk into a crucible event -- even one as small in comparison to September 11, 2001 as an application outage, a major customer issue or a big one like an ethical choice when no one is watching (well, when no other person is watching) -- we have to know already what things are up for negotiation or decision and which are not negotiable because we have already prepared and decided. So the lesson for all of us from 9/11 nine years later is prepare now, make the tough and foundational decisions now.
As I finalized my message Friday night it struck me that I would be getting up to speak at about the same time that United Airlines Flight 93 took off from Newark on September 11th nine years ago. United 93 was the plane where the passengers stormed the cockpit and forced a crash landing in rural Pennsylvania to thwart the terrorist attack on the US Capitol building 124 miles away in Washington, DC. So I used the story of the American heroes on United 93 that had to make a choice very quickly that morning that they could have never imagined -- whether to strike back against terrorists and give up their life to win out over evil -- to open on Saturday morning. As I told the story in a summary timeline of the events on United 93 on September 11, 2001, and showed pictures of the WTC towers on fire, many men listening Saturday morning wiped tears away from their eyes. The emotional clarity that comes with a crisis or crucible like those attacks is hard to match in everyday life. But I challenged the men Saturday morning to be continually preparing spiritually for whatever may come their way from the enemy. We cannot wait for a crisis. There is no time for preparing in the crisis.
The time for preparing is now. The time for major decisions -- some of which if we are honest with ourselves we should have made already -- is now. So when we walk into a crucible event -- even one as small in comparison to September 11, 2001 as an application outage, a major customer issue or a big one like an ethical choice when no one is watching (well, when no other person is watching) -- we have to know already what things are up for negotiation or decision and which are not negotiable because we have already prepared and decided. So the lesson for all of us from 9/11 nine years later is prepare now, make the tough and foundational decisions now.
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