Prudence

Almost twenty years ago, I made a naïve mistake that could have cost me my life. Faced with this unexpected personal crisis, I learned a critical lesson about balancing excitement and bold action with prudence. But it took my 5-year-old son to put the lesson into words.

I want to add to Lisa’s review of the book Focus by discussing prevention and promotion focus. Both kinds of focus can sometimes work together. For example, with the goal to exercise more, promotion-focus gives people enthusiasm for the gain of better fitness, and prevention-focus keeps them vigilant in the long term to avoid losing the fitness they built up.

There’s a saying that only a family will plant an oak avenue because it takes so long for it to grow, one has to be able to think of one’s grandchildren enjoying it. Prudence is taking that long view. It involves creating, assessing, and harmonizing multiple goals. It may involve making hard choices.