It Is Decision Time

A different way to analyze risk – and find purpose

For most of us, making a decision boils down to just two questions: What do I stand to gain? What do I stand to lose?

If you think back on the last few decisions you made, you’ll probably realize that those are just the issues you considered.

Should I take a vacation to see family?
(I’d be with loved ones, but I’m not sure I can afford it right now.)

Is it time to start a new exercise routine?
(I’ll be healthier, but I might fall and hurt myself.)

Do I want to devote more time to that business venture?
(The potential is great, but I might waste time that could have gone into something else.)

This “risk-and-reward” thinking is a classic model of human psychology, and one that’s been at the center of our survival. Research continues into how our brains are “wired” to assess risk. In fact, just this fall researchers identified the brain regions involved in risk-taking. They found two separate centers for the “fear of risk and the lure of reward,” said the co-author, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California. The study appeared online in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

Now, though, there’s a new model for the way we make decisions based on risk and reward. It’s proposed by a celebrated brain surgeon and head of a prestigious medical center – and people are paying attention.

Four smart questions to ask yourself first!

Ben Carson, M.D., has already published three best-selling books, and his latest is a call to action: “Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk.”

Drawing on his own life choices, and miraculous experiences with “risky” surgeries, Dr. Carson has produced a different way to think about risk. He calls it “Best/Worst Analysis (B/WA) formula,” and it’s expressed in these four simple questions:

1. What is the best thing that can happen if I do this?
2. What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?
3. What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do this?
4. What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do this?

According to Dr. Carson, who is director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Maryland, answering these four questions can produce a decision to take appropriate, or acceptable risks.

As he notes in the book, “We buy every kind of insurance to provide us with the security we think we need. We purchase safety seats to keep our children secure… our nation spends billions to keep air travel as safe as possible. What we’re buying and what everyone is selling us is the promise of ’security.’ And yet the only thing we can be sure of is that someday every one of us will die.”

Dr. Carson’s message is strong in his personal faith. In fact, he describes faith itself as a risk, adding that it’s “a lot more acceptable when I realize that my personal relationship with God came at great risk to Him as well.” God took a risk in creating humans with free will to choose to believe and obey, or not, he notes. “Then he took an even bigger risk in sending his own Son to earth to live and die.”

Accepting risks isn’t foolhardy, contends the internationally-famous surgeon. It’s necessary so that we can take part in “the great adventure of living our lives to their full potential.”

Will 2009 be the year of your “great adventure” in making life choices? Whether you’re contemplating a change in a relationship, a career move or a health decision, ask yourself Dr. Carson’s four questions – and risk a great result!

Source: TriVita VitaJournal January 2009 pg. 12