This idea may conjure up notions of Indiana Jones’ decision in The Last Crusade

But choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.

Or from The Matrix, Morpheus presents a choice to Neo

You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

We’re faced with choices every day. Most are not this momentous, but the decisions we make can have considerable consequences.

Describe What It Means to Choose Wisely

This habit sees every choice you have as being worthy of some consideration. Rather than simply following your impulses, the obvious decision, or the crowd, you take a few seconds to make a wise choice.

Did you ever take piano lessons and then quit? I did. Do you wish you had continued? I sure do! My love of music is grand, but my ability to participate was stunted by my refusal to stick with piano. Instead of being in a band, playing Christmas Carols with the family, or sharing piano music at church, I’m relegated to playing air piano on my legs, wishing I could tickle the ivory.

Because of my regret, I took up piano at age 39. Oh boy, it’s much more difficult to learn this skill when your brain has pre-programmed ideas, your life is already too busy, and your ego doesn’t like to hear you playing like a kindergartener. I gave it a shot.

Choosing wisely is stopping to consider a wise choice instead of an impulsive one. OK, OK, 8 years olds can be impulsive, but I still sure wish I had stayed with it.

Choosing wisely is doing the right thing instead of what’s easy. Has anyone had too much to drink and then thought it would be OK to get behind the wheel of a car? Unwise choice because it’s difficult to admit to overindulgence when you’re past the point of sobriety. A wise choice would be having a designated driver chosen when your mind was clear.

It’s said that you don’t need a lot of money to get rich, you just need a lot of time. 20- and 30-year-olds find it difficult to imagine retirement 40 years in the future, so vacations and cars take priority to putting aside a nest egg. Making a wise choice will consider both.

Why is it a good habit to choose wisely?

When we make wise choices, we get the most out of life. Short-term thinking is like a sparkler that’s wonderful while it lasts but is a bummer after it has fizzled. Wise choices look for more than the shiny object in front of us. It may be a good idea to take the shiny object, but then again it may not. Instead of focusing on the “shine”, wisdom focuses on the benefits of the choice.

Another reason choosing wisely is a good habit is you’ll feel better about yourself. It’s satisfying get what you want out of life because of your wise choices. This may take some practice. Recently I was on a trip and couldn’t find a place to eat because I hadn’t been wise about the necessity of reservations in the area. On the next visit, I’ll know better and make a wiser choice.

And making wise choices leads to fewer negative consequences. There’s a price to pay, albeit not always monetarily, to every decision we make. Get to bed late? Tired the next day. Forget to grocery shop? Need to eat out or scrounge the cupboards for whatever you can find. Spout off in anger at your spouse? Deal with hurt feelings and need to mend the relationship.

Taking that one extra second to consider your choice is a good habit that leads to a good life.

Do you need to strike a balance between spontaneity and wise choices? Not necessarily. Each new option gives rise to a different choice. Sometimes it’s a very wise to be spontaneous.

How can you form the habit of choosing wisely?

Be aware of short-term choices – like most of the habits, the first step is awareness. Become aware of what choices you are making that aren’t serving you well in the long run.
Be aware of impulsive and easy choices – taking the easy way out may just be one of those bad habits that’s making your life difficult simply because you haven’t noticed the effects.
Start small – forming a good habit is possible only if you start by changing a small bit at a time. If your bad habit is mindlessly scrolling through your phone causing you to lose hours of the day you need, it’ll be almost impossible to stop this habit overnight. Instead, take a small step like keeping track of how many times you do this in a day. The awareness will help you take the next small step.
See yourself as a critical part of how society runs – the choices you make affect not only you and those around you but our society as a whole. If COVID taught us anything, it showed how interconnected we are. Not only do we share germs, but we also share stress. Your part in society may seem insignificant, but your wise choices impact the community at large.

Making wise choices doesn’t necessarily come with age but with experience. A wise person will choose according to what they have learned from the past.