Remove Emotion? No Thanks.
I was visiting my parents last week at their home where they have these silly things called “TVs.” My dad was watching his stock shows and one of the hosts made a comment that caught my attention:
I bet you’ve heard that before – someone telling you that you have to turn off your emotions in order to make good decisions. I probably come across it at least once a day.
I think what most people really mean when they say it is that you have to be willing to look at cold, hard facts. If you ignore those, you’re in trouble. I agree with that.
But remove emotion? That’s ridiculous.
We’re human beings. Emotion is the main characteristic that sets us apart from all other animals. It’s what gives us the ability to consider how our actions affect others and make decisions accordingly.
And I’m supposed to remove that in order to win? I don’t think so. If that were true, I’d rather lose.
Emotion and logic don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Every good decision is based on the consideration of both. You have to look at the reality of any situation and decide if going through with it is feasible. You also have to conclude how any decision is going to make you feel – about yourself or otherwise.
How can you turn off the one thing that makes you uniquely you? And why would you want to? Never try to turn off a part of who you really are just to rely entirely on another.
Some people don’t have very good hand-eye coordination. Should they cut off their hand and rely only on their eye? Should they poke out their eye and hope that their hand takes care of all the work?
The common advice is that you have to turn off your feelings in order to make good decisions, but really, you need to turn them on.
The problem is that not enough people trust their emotions. They’re afraid to be led astray, so they try to tune them out and make decisions based on facts alone.
But facts alone can never lead to the right answer. They can lead to an answer, but a decision without an emotional aspect isn’t a decision at all – it’s a calculation. And a calculation has the same answer no matter who applies it.
When was the last time you made a great decision that was the same as everyone else’s?
Instead of turning off our emotions, we should get better at reading and applying them. We have to learn what our emotions are telling us and why. We have to understand when our feelings are leading us to a more meaningful decision and when they’re causing us to avoid the right answer.
Remove emotions? No thanks. I’d rather be more skillful with them.
What do your emotions tell you when you’re making an important decision?
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Image by: h.koppdelaney