Every person must learn the balance between “The instinct to help” versus, “It’s none of your damn business.”
You’ve got to develop an internal checklist to determine what level of involvement you are willing to commit to. That’s where knowing your values, purpose, and goals can be helpful.
- Would your action put you in alignment or throw you off course?
- What would regret more, doing something or doing nothing?
- Have you looked at “context” and “intent?”
- Is your intervention positive, kind, and helpful, or petty, negative, and ego-centric?
Many people don’t give these things much thought. “It’s too much work,” they whine.
That’s why there’s so much poor communication, misunderstandings, bent egos, depression and anxiety.
Being stymied is fertile ground for lousy leaders to thrive. Don’t allow that. Rotate the crops. Decide and take action.
Choosing to do nothing can be considered taking action if that’s what you deliberately decided. It’s lazy and abdication if you allow decision by indecision.
Be true to yourself.
Also published on Medium.