S.W.O.T., an analysis
Saturday, May 29, 2021
Cross-examining ourselves is one thing.
However, discussing what we discover aloud is another matter entirely.
Not from the viewpoint of what that says pro/con about revealing ourselves to strangers, the stranger parts are reactions we get from others.
Strangers roll their eyes, ignore us, or come in for a closer look.
Strangers tend to take you at face value.
Strangers are easy.
Friends, on the other hand, are a completely different field of study.
Friends tend to judge.
Friends retreat.
Friends become ghosts. (and, too often, those who say they are friends – when they don’t like friends, prove they weren’t friends in the first place)
Friends use projection (a term from the psychology world) to dump their shite on others, and when you post your thinking for the world to see, you become an easy target. Of course, I’m generalizing here, but I have a few decades of experience in this arena, so I am implying I have some expertise. Some. Not lots, but not so little that I should ignore reality
My point is, we misjudge people. Employers and voters make the same mistakes too.
More significant misjudgments, however, are not misjudgments in terms of the people we choose, but the misjudgments in what we say, when we say it, and whom we say it to – we pull our punches, deflect the uncomfortable and steer directly to the easiest path, one of low resistance.
I’ve picked the wrong people sometimes and admit having been hasty to judge – and those situations are irreversible parts of history. They only have value if I learn from them.
Too often, I’ve picked the wrong moment. Tact and diplomacy are things that get part-learned slowly and painfully – and even when I am carefully walking on my eggshells, I get it wrong more often than I get it right.
But here’s the kicker in the misjudgment domain I believe we all have the most to learn from it; it is in my self-judgement – decisions made too hastily, or too slowly, without adequate thoughtful SWOT (strengths, women, opportunities, and testosterone) analysis.
It’s in telling ourselves we can’t when we can.
It’s in telling ourselves nobody will listen when they will if we speak up.
It’s in telling ourselves our mission/cause isn’t significant enough to move hearts and minds into action and indeed alter the future history of life as we know it – when they are!
Whatever we care about, and whomever we care about, our efforts are worth wasting our life on – because our life is the only currency we have, and we should spend it all every day. There is nothing else to spend our life on, and whatever we don’t spend gets wasted.
Reader feedback:
You’re speaking to me with this one - my pet peeve!, SB, Calgary, AB