CONSEQUENCES

Think before taking action advises Life & Business Coach Eric Gilston…

It is quite amazing how the word ‘Consequences’ has come into conversations many times in the past. I can hear you saying, “There are lots of words that crop up in conversations over and over within each week”.

I know that, but I can recall vividly two conversations from the past that really got me thinking about the importance of the word ‘Consequences’ and how it plays a major part in our lives, and has played a major part in my life ever since.

Let me share these conversations with you.

Firstly, I was with a business colleague and he was telling me about his eventful bike ride to work one day. To cut it short, he was in the middle lane of a busy road in London, when for some reason, he came off. Waiting for the car behind to hit him, this didn’t happen, and he was fortunate to get up with his bike, and get onto the pavement.

He informed me that without his crash helmet, he most likely would not be around today, and together with all the bruising and cuts that he had, he would be starting to ride his bike to work again a few days later.

After such an incident, it got my business colleague thinking about if something worse had happened to him. What about his job, his wife, his children, their future, his future? The list is endless.

So, how often, if ever, do YOU think about Consequences? Maybe, prevention is better than cure, and you should start thinking about consequences before you embark on certain things in life and at work.

The second story goes back to when the Olympics was held in this country. I was talking to a butcher who had his business in a high street where the Olympic Cycling Road Race was passing through. When the trial took place, I went locally to us in Teddington to watch the riders go through soon after the start, and then went to Hampton Court to watch the riders come past in the latter stages of the race.

At that time, my thoughts were centred around how fortunate I, and people living anywhere near the route, would be able to watch an Olympic event for free. Until today, it never entered my mind about the consequences of these road races on people’s businesses.

The main Olympic road race took place on a Saturday, the busiest day of the week for this butcher, and the road outside his business was closed from 7am.

 What goes through my mind is, “How much time had been spent by the Olympic Organisers on thinking this through, and the impact it would have on businesses?”

So why should these two stories play a part in our lives? It is my belief that in life we take too many things for granted, and just go ahead with doing things without considering the consequences.

My challenge to you would be to think about what you are about to say or do, before you take the action. If this were to happen, it is my belief that there would be fewer detrimental consequences than currently take place, and the world would be a better place for it.

Just imagine if greater thought had been given initially in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, there might have been less lives lost.

So, learn the skill of thinking before taking key actions that otherwise could have consequences that you might not want to see happen.

If you want to contact me on Life Skills, then simply email me on: eric@coachandcourses.com