okansas.blogspot.com

okansas.blogspot.com
Occassional thoughts about orienteering

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Should versus want

Think of a hypothetical politician with $250,000,000. They should spend that money fixing the old sewer system, protecting the local river, and saving future generations from even more expensive repairs. The want to build a new arena to host a new basketball team.

Maybe 9 times out of 10 the politician picks the want over the should.

That's one of the issues I was thinking about at work today: the want versus should decisions(which often boil down to short-term versus long-term decisions).

And that got me thinking about orienteering....

I should go for a run. But, I want to have a Smithwicks and watch basketball on TV.

I should do some strength training. But, I want to check out the O' blogs on the web.

I should go to sleep feeling a little bit hungry. But, I want to eat a big bowl of ice cream.

You get the idea.

The trick is to pay attention to the shoulds and wants. Eventually, you might start picking more of the shoulds and fewer of the wants. And ideally, the shoulds and wants start to converge.

"I should go for a run, but I want to watch some basketball on TV."

Do what you should.

"It is raining and cold outside; I should go for a night O' session, but I want to run on the treadmill in the basement."

Do what you should or what you want...both are reasonable options.

Make the should decision over and over again and, eventually, you're options might change...

"It is raining and cold outside; I should go for a night O' session and I want to do that."

Do what you want.

Of course it isn't that easy. And we've got a nation full of new basketball arenas and crumbling sewer systems.

Holger updated his map pages

I lifted a night O' session (below) from Holger's map page.

Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

posted by Michael | 8:52 PM

2 comments

Comments:

In the "should" versus "want" wars, having company or a training plan is great motivation. If you know someone else is waiting for you to go for that long run in the slush, then the should is much more likely to win out.

- Boris

# posted by

Anonymous : 3:07 AM

Someone to run in the slush with and some neoprene socks to wear and you'll want to run in the cold slush!

# posted by

Anonymous : 7:11 AM

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