Decisions, Mistakes, and Dolly Parton
Aug 05, 2025
Have you ever made a decision based on what you thought, not what you knew? Sure – most, if not all of us have at one time or another. I vividly remember watching tv with my parents when I was a kid, and Dolly Parton was singing. I came to the triple conclusions that she was glamorous, was a good singer, and was dumb.
That’s just one example of a wrong decision I’ve made in life. I bet you can think of a few snap judgements or impulsive decisions you’ve made in your life. How did they usually turn out for you? And just why do we make decisions like that, anyway?
Our brains are wired to decide some things quickly and automatically. It’s a survival trait that’s hard-wired in us all, and in many cases those quick decisions serve us well. They allow us to move through our days without agonizing over every single choice that needs to be made – the brain understands what we’ve done in similar circumstances before, so it allows us to do the same thing without any need for a decision. Things like putting toothpaste on the toothbrush – chances are you do it without giving it a thought because you’ve been doing it the same way most of your life. Can you imagine having to make a new decision about that every single morning? Ugh!
What about snap judgements we make about other people – where do those come from? Past experience, unconscious bias, and fear drive a lot of snap judgements. Cultural stereotypes also feed many inaccurate conclusions.
If you know anything about Dolly Parton, you know I got the third conclusion about her very, very wrong.
Dolly Parton cultivated a dumb blonde, larger than life in more ways than one, persona. She understood her two biggest assets that the world could see were her voice and her ample bosom. And she knew what her real biggest assets were – her vision and her business acumen.
So why did I come to the conclusion that she was dumb? Past experience and cultural stereotypes – up to that point in my life, the only woman who colored her hair that I knew well was a ditzy woman who couldn’t make a good decision, though she could make a mean egg salad. Ever heard the term “dumb blonde?” It’s been part of the vernacular since the late 1700’s, popularized in a French play and cemented by the Hollywood movie moguls in the 20th century, casting beautiful blondes as dumb, helpless, desirable women. Between my experience, that stereotype, and hearing “dumb blonde” so often, I didn’t question the conclusion that right there, on the television was a glamorous, glorious-voiced, dumb blonde.
Today, think about a decision or conclusion you’ve come to recently and examine where that conclusion came from. Bonus points if, when you discover that it’s as wrong as I was about Dolly Parton, you consciously choose another way to think about things.
Wags,
Sandy Weaver
The Voice of Wagaliciousness
#success #leader #lawofattraction #dogtraining #conformation
