Choose easy

Panic.


It’s a horrible feeling. Usually we feel that the stress of panic is being thrust upon us. Something or someone else is causing our panic. But how much of panic is a matter of our own choice?

I remember starting a new job that was very challenging. There were computer screens everywhere and a steady stream of information that I was supposed to be reviewing and analyzing. It was all very intimidating.

I was being trained by a young man who was very good at the job, and very relaxed and funny. The complicated nature of the job didn’t seem to faze him at all. He seemed like a genius as he juggled the telephones, barked technical jargon and moved quickly from computer to computer.

I wanted to be able to do the job and make it seem as important as this other guy did. I wanted to seem to be in control of all that technology. I wanted to make a good impression on my employer, so I was always on the edge of my seat, trying to be as busy as I could be.

So there I was, frantically writing, scanning the data, reviewing procedures. Then the phones started ringing and I needed to convey correct data and information to the counterparties on the other end. Soon I was the center of mass confusion. I was floundering. I needed help.

It was then that I heard laughter from the man who was supposed to be training me.

“Why are you making this so hard?”

I turned on my trainer with anger. I felt like I was righteous in my efforts to do everything right.

“Why aren’t you telling me what to do? Why aren’t you helping me?”

“Okay, I’ll give you a hint. Choose easy.”

Choose easy? What the heck does that mean?

“Yes, choose easy! You’re trying to make this too hard! Who are you trying to impress?”

Choose easy. Sounds too simple. How do I choose easy?

“Just stop and think about what exactly it is that you’re trying to accomplish, and choose the easiest path to your goal.”

I was stunned.

“What do you have to gain by choosing the hardest path to your goal?”

I’ve frequently asked myself that question many times in the years since that panicky day. Do I try too hard to make things appear difficult so that I will appear to be hard working and capable?

Choose Easy.

It’s more productive.

Experience the pellet gun.

You can’t really know something unless you have firsthand experience with it. I’ve had this conversation with people hundreds of times.


Can you know much about anything without firsthand experience?

I’m not sure I’ve been convinced one way or the other by any of the arguments I’ve heard.

On the one hand, I recently listened to a man go on and on about how horrible it would be to live in New York City. He admitted that he had never even visited New York City, yet he was sure that it would be a horrible place to live. I knew that his point of view was invalid, no matter how he had obtained his information. He couldn’t know much about New York if he hadn’t been there.

On the other hand, I’ve never been to Spain, but I feel I know it’s a wonderful place, because I want to go there, and I’ve studied and learned as much about Spain as I can.

One of the best illustrations of this argument came many years ago from a particularly dim witted young man who worked in the warehouse of the company where I was employed. This young man believed without question that we cannot know anything with absolute certainty without firsthand experience. He was ready to defend this position to the death. There was no way he could be persuaded to consider the possibility that there might be another point of view on the matter.

The argument in the warehouse became heated. Some of the guys there felt that someone could have a pretty good opinion about something without firsthand experience. But the dim witted young man was unmoved. You can’t know ANYTHING without firsthand, actual knowledge.

The following Monday, as we all returned to work. I noticed that the angry young man who had argued so passionately about experience, was walking with a limp. I had to know his story.

“I was at a get-together with my family over the weekend. One of my nephews was playing with a pellet gun. He asked me how much it hurt to be shot with a pellet gun. I was going to tell him that it really hurts a lot, when it occurred to me that I really didn’t know. I didn’t have any firsthand experience with being shot by a pellet gun. So I pumped up the gun and shot myself in the thigh.”

Now, I guess I have to say that I don’t really know what it feels like to shoot myself in the leg with a pellet gun. I don’t have that firsthand experience. But I’m pretty sure that it hurts a lot, and that it would probably leave a nasty mark and cause me to limp for a few days. And now I can say that my knowledge has been increased by seeing someone else experience a pellet gun shot to the thigh.

Maybe that’s the key. We share our experiences with others, and learn from the experiences of others. In this way we develop a shared knowledge, even if it isn’t firsthand, pellet gun knowledge. But sometimes that kind of knowledge isn’t really necessary.