Preemptive Decision Making

January 16, 2012

I was in a remote area of Asia. Less than 24 hours after arriving, I received a message that my mother had passed away. I started a 46 hour return trip back alone. On the way, I met an attractive young woman who spoke English. She offered to get me from the train station in Beijing to a bus to the airport, where I would have to wait all day for a flight to North America. As we traveled to the bus station she explained she had recently broken up with her boy friend. Then she informed me she lived near the bus station.

Wow! All at once I realized this was an invitation. I was tired, emotionally spent and alone. I was tempted… but the decision was made 25 years before on my wedding day. I made a decision to be faithful to the amazing woman I married. That solid commitment, made in the past, helped me that day. The temptation was real but the decision was already made.

There are important decisions that can be made in advance. In fact, making decisions in advance of difficult circumstances can help you hold to values or commitments. Preemptive Decision Making is making a decision before you find yourself in a challenging situation.

Action:   How has this principle been helpful to you in the past? Are there any decisions you have already made that it would be helpful to re-affirm now? Are there some clear, solid preemptive decisions it would be helpful to make now in order to safeguard your relationship in the future?