Monty Hall, the famous game show host, passed away recently.

I read an interview he gave a while ago.

He described how he tried to “con” the contestants.

He actually used the word, “con.”

Without his input, the contestants would have to use brain skills to choose which choice was the most appropriate.

Which is interesting in itself.

That’s the whole premise behind the popular game shows like, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” and “Jeopardy.”

There’s a difficult question, the contestant has to answer, and we can play along at home.

But on “Let’s Make a Deal,” (the show Monty Hall hosted), it was a lot more emotional.

While the contestant was trying to decide which was better, Monty was messing with them.

He’d start offering more money if they made a certain choice.

And since he KNEW which was the right choice, he knew which direction to push them to make it more interesting.

Remember, he used the word, “con,” to describe this behavior.

And while this was happening, everybody in the audience was screaming at the poor guy or gal up on stage desperately trying to think.

This is the human condition on steroids.

You’ve got a decision, that in itself is not so easy.

But there’s also money at stake.

And there’s your social reference group.

And while they do sort of have your interests in mind, they won’t pay the price if you make the wrong decision.

In fact, it may even make them feel better if you make a mistake.

How do us poor humans ever do anything right?

Luckily, there is a simple way.

All those people on Let’s Make a Deal never knew what was at stake until they were up on stage.

Which means they don’t have much time to come up with a strategy.

They see the choice the same time everybody else does.

And there’s a huge amount of time pressure.

But in real life, you can easily avoid that.

Choose what you want ahead of time.

Before anybody else knows.

That way, choosing what to do will be a lot easier.

Because the right choices will take you closer, or teach you skills that will get you closer.

The wrong choices won’t.

The stronger you choose, the easier it will to move toward that choice.

So choose carefully, and start moving.

Learn How:

Seven Disciplines