Post: #1

So this week, I blew 2 grand I could hardly afford to lose on some risky bets. For some guys, this is peanuts, for me, it's unforgivable.

First off, because thinking about it, a few simple rules of caution would've prevented it. I know, I know... shoulda, coulda, woulda.

But this was BASIC stuff I didn't do. Then I began to think of other disasters that had befallen me before and how my lack of caution had enabled them. If I had been cautious, I wouldn't have discounted the potential downside so aggressively, and my decision would have reflected that.

If you think of caution as a discount factor, the less cautious you are, the more you're likely to rate the risk-loving action as favorable over the risk-averse action.

A lot of stuff fell into place. Experiences where I had hurt people's feelings, and I could see they were hurt, but before the words had been uttered it had absolutely NOT occured to me this was the case. Friendships soured, job opportunities lost.

Yeah, I started feeling like shit as I came to terms with this rather unpleasant aspect of my character. I have many gifts. Caution is not one. To such an extent it can render all other efforts pointless. You only need ONE reason to fuck a good opportunity up - a good lay, a promotion, a huge investment. You name it. A lot of people do well in life with no brains but lots of social smarts. But no one gives a fuck if you have top-grades, high test-scores but an inability to think ahead properly.

Well, it doens't help to hate on yourself. The only thing that works is to identify the challenge, formulate the end-result, and discover the solution, and it doesn't fix itself.

So I started googling and I discovered this page and this article. Haven't read much of it yet, but it's a start. By posting this I also hope someone else might be able to share any success they've had in dealing with these kinds of handicaps, because that's about what it is.

A small-ass amygdala.

http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/a...-amygdala/

I am have been googling various phrases without much success. But this is clearly the biggest source of trouble in my life. If I deal with this, I'm positive I'll vastly improve my success rates.