Carts & Horses

We have all heard the saying, “Don’t put the cart before the horse.”  My interpretation of the saying is that it means to do things in a proper order.  Think about those silly calls to tech support.  Normally, the first thing a tech will ask, “Is your computer plugged in and turned on?”  Sounds dumb when you read, but I can assure you they ask that question because a computer being unplugged or powered up is more common than you think.  You cannot solve a problem without first determining if there really is a problem, correct. 

I see the cart before the horse situation happen a lot in relationships.  People will jump head first into a relationship and open totally up before they really know the other person.  Dr. Henry Cloud has a book called, How To Get A Date Worth Keeping.  It’s about relationships and the most common pitfalls.   One of the more typical ones is moving too fast.  To paraphrase, it takes a bare minimum of six months to really to know someone. The logic behind the statement is that you have to see people through various seasons in life.  Emotions, hormones, and the newness of a situation can really cloud logical thinking. Everyone has that friend (and we have been that friend too) that has fallen head over heels for someone after only knowing them six weeks, and then we talk to them a month or so later and hear that he/she was not really as advertised.

Carts and horses have their proper place. Take a little time on the front side to think through situations.  If you find there is a problem, develop an approach to solve it.  If there isn’t a problem, you’ve saved yourself some brain cycles.