When you don't know what to do, what should you do?

[vacuum]

I think this is a very fundamental question, in both a philosophical and practical way. It's the difference between action and inaction. Note that most people never ask this question because most people believe they know what to do.

It seems to me that if you don't know what to do, you probably shouldn't do anything because there are dangers when acting out of ignorance. What if you are being tricked? Running rat races and you don't know why. You don't really know what you're doing or why you're doing it. You don't know exactly what you are accomplishing or for whom.

On the other hand, if you do nothing, then you are frozen. It's true you don't cause damage because you did something out of ignorance, but what if you never figure out what to do? You could potentially end up never doing anything.

It seems to me that any action requires faith. Logically, you shouldn't do anything unless you know what to do. But also, you may never actually know what to do.

I know this is vague, but I think it's a principle applies to a wide range of things. Everything from stressful situations to life in general.

[woodman]

Keep doing your investigative work. If you don't know which way the fire is coming from, but you can see smoke all around you, rushing off pell mell in any direction could get you killed or maimed.

[Hitch]

If you don't know what to do, you should always do nothing. Take a deep breath, and find out what to do. Then take action.

Taking action when not knowing what to do is the same thing as panicking.

[Libertytree]

Sometimes ya just gotta go for it and sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. There is NO knowing, no crystal ball and we deal with things how they roll at the moment. Of course any actions will be made with the info at hand and hopefully logically but there is no guarantee....how's the song go? Should I stay or should I go?

[palani]

Back in the '60s a private pilot was coming in to land at a Minnesota airstrip. He noticed someone in the pattern doing touch and go landings so called approach and set her down ... into 2 feet of snow ... flipped it. The guy he presumed was doing touch and goes sees the crash and heads for another strip. See he wasn't actually touching down .. he was doing slow flyovers to see if the strip was safe. After the crash he had his questions answered.

[sirgonzo420]

there should be an "either" and "both" option

[Libertytree]

To add.....hindsight is 20/20.

[Carl]

What about "Wing It"?

[vacuum]

there should be an "either" and "both" option
I thought about it, but that's just indecisiveness.

You either do something or you don't. It seems there are only two choices we are faced with.

All other choices in life can be deferred, except this one.

It sounds to me like you prefer to do nothing, take time to figure out what to do, then act after that.

[sirgonzo420]

I thought about it, but that's just indecisiveness.

You either do something or you don't. It seems there are only two choices we are faced with.

All other choices in life can be deferred, except this one.

It sounds to me like you prefer to do nothing, take time to figure out what to do, then act after that.

I was just tongue-in-cheekingly waxing philosophic.

And I'm not sure if you would consider meditation a something or a nothing.

Hence both and either.

[Carl]

Stare blankly and hope the problem goes away.

Does that count as doing something?

[Santa]

If everyone decided to do absolutely nothing, all our problems would be solved. :)

[joboo]

Threat of immediate physical danger...otherwise sleep on it.

I think there's probably a good reason that the wise old man who sits on top of the mountain remains motionless.

[osoab]

What am I doing prior to not knowing what to do?

If unknown, then fuck it. Wing the bastard.

[Hitch]

If everyone decided to do absolutely nothing, all our problems would be solved. :)

I don't know. I see a lot of folks doing nothing and supported on the .gov tit. Those folks might solve this debate, just do anything!

[Hatha Sunahara]

Buy time and learn enough to make an informed decision. In the meantime don't act (do nothing) until you feel you know enough about what to do.


Hatha

[Santa]

I don't know. I see a lot of folks doing nothing and supported on the .gov tit. Those folks might solve this debate, just do anything!

Well, that's just it. They aren't doing nothing. They're sucking and oinking and growing fat like the pigs they are.

[Hitch]

Well, that's just it. They aren't doing nothing. They're sucking and oinking and growing fat like the pigs they are.

Good point!

[palani]

Hypothesis where the risk lies. Assess the risk with a view to minimize it. Propose a test to analyze the problem and establish several possible solutions. Convince the banker that the most expensive solution is the only solution, get him to take the risk, and when you fail shrug and tell him "it is not as bad as it could be ... it might have been my money"

[BabushkaLady]

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice . . .


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpCASVFyQoE

[Santa]

There are four fundamental actions required for life to keep the cycle perpetuating.

1. Eating
2. Sleeping
3. Shitting
4. Fucking around. :)

[Celtic Rogue]

There are four fundamental actions required for life to keep the cycle perpetuating.

1. Eating
2. Sleeping
3. Shitting
4. Fucking around. :)

Better than Fucking a square!


1. Eating a Square is a normal thing...
2. Sleeping
3. Shitting a Square~ ouch!
4. Fucking a Square. :) Not sure?

[Tumbleweed]

When I have decisions to make and don't really know what to do I keep gathering information. When I've gathered enough I'll make a decision and the way that has worked out is it has usually been the right one. If you don't know what to do keep gathering information.

[freespirit]

It's a philosophical mind fuck...

Doing nothing is an impossibility since by doing nothing one is actually doing something.
Wrap yer head around that one! Lol

[General of Darkness]

We make choices every single day. For me personally, I weigh my decisions of inaction or action based on my personal interests. Just last week I was at McDonalds because there was nothing else around and I was waiting for my truck to get aligned. Well low and behold it became white trash central. Two older ladies in line calling some 20 something a POS, which they apparently knew, blah blah blah. Within 3 seconds I made the decision that unless he hits one of them, it's not my business.

Now the only other decision is the blue bird, most people will never have to make them, but they do happen. A friend of mine saw some guy smacking some woman around on the street and he tried to stop it. And they both turned on him.

So my conclusion, it really depends on the circumstance, which OP you haven't defined, and the value. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, or lost. See the founders were willing to give up EVERYTHING, and some did, their lives included. Nowadays, it's more of the "When people have nothing to loose, they loose it".

I guess it would be better to ask, "What do you live for, things, ideas, what?" It's only in the last 10 years of my life that I realized what was engrained in me, get an education, work, make money blah blah blah was the goal. While those are all admirable, but at what fucking cost? Your soul?

This is why I truly hate L.A., it's so fucking fake. People don't give a shit about other people, they care about things, and how people perceive them and that's why they collect things. People here are so concerned about other peoples opinions and perceptions about them to the point of not knowing who the fuck they are.

I apologize for digressing. But the more I think about it the more I just need to keep pushing forward and getting out before it's too late. I feel like the man that can see in the world of the blind, it's very frustrating.

[Twisted Titan]

Do the best you can with what you got and if you really dont know:

Always go with your gut.

Rarely is it wrong.

[Uncle Salty]

Throw the I Ching, man.

[Hitch]

Always go with your gut.

Rarely is it wrong.


[/B][/I]

Trust your gut is, by far, the best advise applicable to this thread.

[Twisted Titan]

I try to make it a habbit to trust my gut.

The more I do it.

The easier the "correct" action comes.


Alot of times those people who cant make up their mind are in CONFLICT with their gut.

This is not by accident....... this is by design. Shaped by the current power mongers.


Listen to the average person talk about guns.

They REALLY believe unless you are some State appointed dickory, the average person is going to somehow lose control of themself or the gun is going to magically come alive and start shooting people.

This is the type of nonsense people can slip into your head when you dont trust your gut.

[zap]

I think most people are scared... scared of making the wrong decision, all of you are right go with your gut and live with the decision.

I am 46 years old and I don't regret one single decision I have made in my entire life, maybe I should? Maybe I made the wrong choice? but the decisions I have made, have made me the person I am today , and I would not change anything, I way-ed the conscious (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consciousness)es, and stood by them according to my own life experiences /choices, and I am the person I am today! Because of those decisions! I know that I am a decent person.

No REGRETS !

[vacuum]

I think most people are scared... scared of making the wrong decision, all of you are right go with your gut and live with the decision.

I am 46 years old and I don't regret one single decision I have made in my entire life, maybe I should? Maybe I made the wrong choice? but the decisions I have made, have made me the person I am today , and I would not change anything, I way-ed the consciences, and stood by them according to my own life experiences /choices and I am the person I am today! Because of those decisions! I know that I am a decent person.

No REGRETS !

As I mentioned in the OP, I think it takes faith to live like that.

[zap]

I can't spell the word in blue sorry, I have had a couple of beers,

Faith? faith in one-self?

I have had so much tragedy since I hit 40, I don't know If I have any faith in anyone or anything except in myself. Cause there isn't anyone who is going to Magically provide me or help me with anything, It is all up to me.

Faith? Aww.... I haven't prayed to any God in a long time, I depend on myself, it sucks but I think in the end nobody will help, your on your own.

[Hitch]

I think most people are scared... scared of making the wrong decision, all of you are right go with your gut and live with the decision.

I am 46 years old and I don't regret one single decision I have made in my entire life, maybe I should? Maybe I made the wrong choice? but the decisions I have made, have made me the person I am today , and I would not change anything, I way-ed the conscious (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consciousness)es, and stood by them according to my own life experiences /choices, and I am the person I am today! Because of those decisions! I know that I am a decent person.

No REGRETS !

I have no regrets either, zap. I have a core set of values, ethics, I live by. Simple things, like the 10 commandments.

My problem, is those values are casually discarded in our society and at worst, deemed criminal by our gov.

I will be turning 40 this May. I will celebrate, for not regretting a damn thing.

[vacuum]

I can't spell the word in blue sorry, I have had a couple of beers,

Faith? faith in one-self?

I have had so much tragedy since I hit 40, I don't know If I have any faith in anyone or anything except in myself. Cause there isn't anyone who is going to Magically provide me or help me with anything, It is all up to me.

Faith? Aww.... I haven't prayed to any God in a long time, I depend on myself, it sucks but I think in the end nobody will help, your on your own.

I don't think faith is necessarily religious. It's precisely what you just described: believing there is something of importance out there, taking action without knowing for sure/without proof, and following your gut.

Doing those things is beyond an intellectual exercise, because you never truly know for sure. That's where the faith comes in.

[NOOB]

http://www.nwlink.com/%7Edonclark/leadership/pics/OODA.png
OODA Loop

The OODA Loop model was developed by Col. John Boyd, USAF (Ret) during the Korean War. It is a concept consisting of the following four actions:


Observe
Orient
Decide
Act

This looping concept referred to the ability possessed by fighter pilots that allowed them to succeed in combat. It is now used by the U.S. Marines and other organizations. The premise of the model is that decision-making is the result of rational behavior in which problems are viewed as a cycle of Observation, Orientation (situational awareness), Decision Making, and Action. Boyd diagramed the OODA loop as shown in the figure below:
Cycling Through OODA


http://www.nwlink.com/%7Edonclark/leadership/pics/ooda2.jpg
An entity (whether an individual or an organization) that can process this cycle more quickly than an opponent can “get inside” the opponent's decision cycle and gain the advantage.
Observation

Scan the environment and gather information from it.
Orientation

Use the information to form a mental image of the circumstances. That is, synthesize the data into information. As more information is received, you "deconstruct" old images and then "create" new images. Note that different people require different levels of details to perceive an event. Often, we imply that the reason people cannot make good decisions, is that people are bad decisions makers — sort of like saying that the reason some people cannot drive is that they are bad drivers. However, the real reason most people make bad decisions is that they often fail to place the information that we do have into its proper context. This is where "Orientation" comes in. Orientation emphasizes the context in which events occur, so that we may facilitate our decisions and actions. That it, orientation helps to turn information into knowledge. And knowledge, not information, is the real predictor of making good decisions.
Decision

Consider options and select a subsequent course of action.
Action

Carry out the conceived decision. Once the result of the action is observed, you start over. Note that in combat (or competing against the competition), you want to cycle through the four steps faster and better than the enemy, hence, it is a loop.
Interactive Web

The loop doesn't mean that individuals or organizations have to observe, orient, decide, and act, in the order as shown in the diagram above. Rather, picture the loop as an interactive web with orientation at the core, as shown in the diagram below. Orientation is how we interpret a situation, based on culture, experience, new information, analysis, synthesis, and heritage
http://www.nwlink.com/%7Edonclark/leadership/pics/OODA.png Thus, the loop is actually a set of interacting loops that are kept in continuous operation.
SOAP

Another variation of the OODA cycle is SOAP that is used by paramedic's and medical techs. SOAP is a standard process for: Situation, Observation, Analysis, Perform.
Next Steps