You have likely heard the expression “pick your battles” and know the gist of its meaning. I have said this at times to friends and colleagues who find themselves in a number of disagreements about a number of matters – each appear to have different intensities and weights of importance to them.

Out of curiosity I looked up the meaning. According to this source, “pick your battles” is likely based on a military strategy. That is, “The best way [to achieve success on the war front] would be to mobilize the forces at a strategic point to then move on to deal with the next issue”. Generally, the phrase “pick your battles” is considered a phrase of wisdom, described as follows:

“Pick Your Battles implies that one should know when to fight for a cause and when to let go and accept the situation. The simple reason is that, fighting for ever sundry cause may label one as a rebel and accepting every thing as it is may seem submissive. So knowing to Pick Your Battles is the key. Some may choose to pick battles that deal with issues of injustice. Others may pick battles when they are sure that they’re on the correct side of law. Many may not like to pick battles in which they have very slim chances of winning. One way to Pick Your Battles is to decide if the issue is worth the battle.”

The ConflictMastery™ Quest(ions) today are for those of you who experience a lot of disputes and wonder about which one(s) to take on and which one(s) to let go of.

• What sorts of ‘battles’ do you experience on a regular basis?
• What makes them ‘battles’?
• How do you describe the impact on you of engaging in a number of ‘battles’ at a time?
• Which one(s) are especially compelling for you?
• What is it about that one (those) that makes them especially compelling?
• Which one(s) are not really worth your time and energy?
• Why is that the case for that one (those)?
• If you let go of some, what would you gain?
• If you let go of some, what would you lose?
• What criteria could you use to determine which ‘battles’ are worth fighting for and which are not?

What other ConflictMastery™ Quest(ions) may you add here?

Originally posted on www.cinergycoaching.com/blog/