Without knowing up front who we’re trying to please, it can be easy to make decisions based on the feelings or pressures of the moment, possibly trying to win the approval of someone whose opinion may or may not be that valuable.
This can happen everywhere: at home, in the marketplace, in live in general. We decide on how, or how not, to discipline our child based on who’s present in the room; we decide to change the product we’ve been working hard on because one customer isn’t thrilled with a new feature; we choose what we study or where we move based on the expectations of others.
Sometimes these decisions can work out well, and other times not so much. The problem occurs when we end up making decisions that go against our values in an effort to win the approval of someone else. And this stems from not having clarity up front about whose opinion really counts.