Deciding – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

The difference between stumbling and learning to walk with purpose

Repeating bad decisions is more than a behavior pattern. Often it’s a sign of the mind trying to dodge immediate pain, even while knowing that pain left unfaced leads to greater suffering. Frequent bad decisions seldom come from ignorance. They reflect an inner struggle between what we know is good for us and the temporary relief the mind is looking for. The real challenge is to make a good decision and then hold to it when emotion, inertia and comfort push the other way.

Jordan Peterson is one of my favorite authors. One way he explores this dynamic is through his reading of the Garden of Eden story. In that archetypal narrative, the first humans choose a fruit they weren’t meant to take, and their "eyes are opened" to the knowledge of good and evil. That knowledge also brings awareness of their own vulnerability and the world’s. Paradoxically, the same opening leads both to greater awareness and to the capacity to choose badly again and again. Awareness of our own fragility and of what is evil is also what makes repeated bad decisions possible, because knowing evil is no guarantee of avoiding it.

You see this pattern in everyday life. A person can recognize which decision would serve them in the long run and still go back to what’s comfortable, immediate or familiar. Ignorance has little to do with it; it’s sympathy for our own fear of pain and uncertainty. Repeating bad decisions can be a form of self-protection against messy consequences, and paradoxically that strategy ends up piling on damage. Changing the pattern requires facing what you fear. Knowing it is only the start.

Breaking the cycle often requires "hitting bottom" consciously: recognizing that you fail, and also what you’re avoiding with each bad choice. The truth about yourself (what you want, what you fear and what you dodge) only comes to light when you stop the automatic reaction and look honestly. That takes courage: looking without making excuses, taking accountability (my favorite word) and doing what you know you must do even when it’s uncomfortable.

I see something similar all the time in business. A company that keeps making bad strategic decisions usually has the technical knowledge. What it lacks is the ability to face uncomfortable realities: shifting markets, a weak culture, reactive leadership. When an organization keeps putting off hard decisions, short-term pain becomes long-term suffering. Repeated bad operational or strategic decisions erode credibility, wear teams down and can eventually lead to bankruptcy (which is usually what happens). A mature company forces itself to look at its blind spots and make tough calls before the consequences become irreversible.

Teams repeat the pattern too. In group life, recurring bad decisions stem from emotional dynamics: fear of conflict, conformity, resistance to honest feedback. When a team won’t face the truth about its results and processes, it sticks with recipes that don’t work. The pain of reshaping roles, priorities or responsibilities gets postponed, and the same inefficiencies become normal. The way out is to build habits of reflection: review past decisions without blame, draw clear lessons and commit to different actions.

Making good decisions is an ongoing process. First, it takes conscious self-observation to recognize your own patterns of avoidance and fear. Second, it takes accountability to face the consequences of past actions and put in the effort to correct course. Third, it means setting up deliberate practices of reflection that turn experience into working wisdom. The difference between stumbling and moving forward is that people who learn go beyond admitting the mistake: they reshape their decision habits around what truly matters.

Deciding well means facing your inner reality with calm and courage, and holding your ground at the first sign of discomfort. Transformation comes from doing the right thing repeatedly, even when it hurts. Announcing that you want to change, as a person or as an organization, is just the beginning. That’s how knowledge becomes wisdom and intention becomes results. What pattern of bad decisions keeps repeating in your life or your organization? What would it take to accept that pattern honestly so you can decide differently?

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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