You Don’t Need to Control Your Emotions

A lot of people struggle with managing their emotions and blame themselves for making emotional decisions rather than rational ones. But first of all, there is no such thing as a purely rational decision. A decision that benefits you in the long term is usually considered rational and “practical.” Emotional decisions, by contrast, are often short-term because emotions are, in essence, short-term feedback loops. We resort to willpower to control our emotions. We restrict ourselves from feeling them and punish ourselves for having them. That is a strategy designed to fail. Having emotions is not a crime; it makes you human. But governing your life based entirely on short-term emotional feedback is not a wise way to live. If you find yourself overwhelmed by emotions in every situation, it is a sign that you should not rely on them to guide your decisions. Instead, bind yourself to systems thinking. Build clearly defined systems and mental frameworks that help you make decisions and break…