Lead Your Heart

By Jeff Becraft

I’m not really a decision maker.  I’m an analyzer.  That’s what all the personality tests say.

And the toughest decisions in life are not between right and wrong.

The toughest decisions in life are between right and right.  Between good and good.

It is when two very important things are happening at the same time and on the same day and you can’t be at both.  Both are important and both are significant.  And both involve people that are important to you.  You have to make the difficult decision of which one gets the nod.

The same is true when you have two (or more) equally good and significant paths and you have to decide which one to take.

Some people will say listen to your heart.  I tried that once and nearly broke my neck.  Sometimes our hearts and emotions can lead us to poor choices.

I like what one book about love stated: “Don’t follow your heart; lead your heart.”  I might get up in the morning and be overly tired and overly burdened and may not feel like loving anyone that day.  Or treating anyone with respect.  I might be feeling it’s time I get what I want.  Usually if I start a day off like that…  well… it just goes down hill from there.  And the day becomes more and more miserable.  That is why feelings can be misleading and we need to lead our hearts.

It is important for our heart to be in it, whatever it is.  One time, in wrestling about a decision and what to do, I called one of my friends named Arthur.  He said to me, “If your heart is not in it, you won’t be any good in that situation any way.”  It immediately cleared up for me what I needed to do.

Our son is currently reading a book about leadership written by a Navy seal.  He told me the author laid it out this way: “Breathe.  Observe.  Decide.”

Now, it is important to breathe… because the alternative has serious consequences.  And it is always good to have our eyes wide open when we are making choices.  And then we actually have to make a decision and be committed to that decision.

One way in which my “red” personality friends (if you are using the Hardwired test) have rubbed off on me is to make decisions more quickly.  One Board member who is a “red” personality asked me once, “Jeff, why do you call me and ask my opinion on something?”  I responded, “Because I know I’ll get an answer in 30 seconds.”

Too often during my life, I have second-guessed decisions.  And who can even calculate the wasted time and energy I have spent in pondering, “Did I make the right call in that situation?”  If we make a poor decision, let’s call it what it is and simply own up to it and declare, “I made a mistake in that situation.  That was the wrong decision.”  Then get ready to make the right choices in the next situation that comes in life.  Choose what is right, choose what is true, choose what is noble, choose what is good, and choose what is important.

Let’s choose today to make it a great day!