Decisions decisions decisions.....

This is an extract from Paul Arden's book Whatever you think think the opposite:

"When you look back there will be things you will regret.
You made the wrong decision.
Wrong.
You made the right decision.
Life is about decisions.

1. Am I going to have the practical car or the fast car?
2. Shall I go to college or get a job?
3. Will I have wine, beer or water?

Whatever decision you make is the only one you could make.

Otherwise you would make a different one.

Everything we do we choose.

So what is there to regret?

You are the person you choose to be."

Safeg Decisions

This is an extract from Paul Arden's book:

"Everyone wants an exciting life, but most people are afraid to take the bull by the horns. So they take an easy option for an exciting life. They live their excitement through other people. By aligning themselves with famous rebels, a little bit of glamour rubs off on them. They imagine that they're John Lennon, Ernst Hemingway, George Best, Liam Gallagher, Lenny Bruce, Janis Joplin, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, etc.

The difference being, these people when faced with a decision took the outrageous one, not knowing where it might lead them, but knowing that the safe decision had danger written all over it."

I feel illustrates my point that without sometimes taking risks and making what you might regard as the wrong decisions can be beneficial. 

Wrong Decisions Case study : Dick Fosbury

This is a case study from Paul Arden's book 'Whatever you think think the opposite.' Before 1968 the customary way for a high jumper to cross the bar was with his body parallel to it, in a technique known as the Western Roll. At the Mexico olympics a little-known athlete approached the bar, which was set at a world record height of 7ft 4 and a half inches. He took off, but instead of turning his body towards the bar, he turned his back on it, bringing his legs up and flipped over the bar backwards. This jumper, Dick Fosbury, is now responsible for the Fosbury Flop which is still used to this day. He jumped higher than any man before, by thinking the opposite from everybody else. What others might have deemed a mistake, got him a medal. I think that this illustrates my point, that decisions deemed widely as 'wrong' can sometimes be right!

Wrong Decisions Case study : Irving Penn

This is part of another case study from Paul Arden's book 'Whatever you think think the opposite.' In traditional flower photography the most perfect specimen would be picked, then carefully arranged and lit so that it looks as perfect as possible. Rather than shooting a perfect fresh flower, Irving Penn photographed a dead flower perfectly. This is not the traditionally correct way to answer this kind of brief, it's a beautiful solution to the problem. By making the conventionally 'wrong' decision the picture becomes memorable.

Wrong Decisions

My next 'thing' that I want to prove to be 'good', is wrong decisions. I decided to research this concept after reading a book by Paul Arden entitled 'Whatever you think think the opposite.' The book assesses the way that we look at our work and our world. Its a really inspiring and entertaining book. What I found most interesting is the way that Paul Arden uses quotes, case study type stories and his own experiences to make you think differently about the decisions you make and which of your ideas, opinions and choices are 'right'.

"It's better to regret what you have done than what you haven't."

After a small scrape with the law this summer, I really felt the relevance of this quote from Paul Arden's book; Whatever you think think the opposite. Although admittedly there was a lot of stress and general fear surrounding the issue, I think that if you go though life always 'playing it safe', we will wake up one day and feel that something was missing. One day, I want to look back on my life without wishing I had taken more risks, and feeling like I had missed out. 

"the only way to eat well in England is to have breakfast three times a day"

Quote by the author Somerset Maugham.

This is sometimes quoted as the origin of the term, and indeed meal, all-day breakfast.