Over reaction

One of the most damaging behaviors that all of us exhibit is the tendency to over react to circumstances and conditions.  

Ignoring context and our bias toward recency results in an exaggerated and questionable perspective of events that leads to flawed conclusions, thus flawed reactions.  Case in point - the recent NFL playoffs produced a couple of surprising results that led pundits to declare that these teams are suddenly the "hot" teams and so on.  The teams went on to the next round and promptly lost.  This happens every year without fail.  Instead of looking at long-term fundamentals, key match-ups, etc., the media weight their opinions on very recent emotional events that result in very flawed conclusions.  This is a benign example; however, we create hype in other areas that are far more consequential.

We over react in our personal and business relationships.  We over react as organizations and as nations.  We tend to form opinions with incomplete context.  We don't have the patience to explore the facts dispassionately before reacting.  We react emotionally rather than intellectually.  We treat everyday situations as if they were crises.  You get the picture. 

When we react with emotion, we do so mostly out of fear.  We need to react less and proact more (yes, I just made up a word).  Don't let others' over reactions cause you to over react.  Take the time to study the situation, to critically think through the issue rather than fall prey to emotional antagonism.  Learn to pull back and assess the playing field.  Look at every possible frame of reference to gain perspective.  Impetuousness causes mistakes. 

A word of caution - don't over analyze, get the facts and make the best decision that you can given the circumstances and information available.  You can get paralyzed waiting for 100% of the information you need, but, in reality, that information never comes.  Assess the situation thoroughly and then be decisive.  Will you make mistakes?  Absolutely, but you're guaranteed to make mistakes if you over react, and worse, the magnitude of the mistakes will be much larger.