"Rock, Paper, Scissors, SHOOT!"

We've all played it. The simple yet definitive solution to an argument over the front seat on a road trip or the last slice of pizza in the box.

In this zero-sum game, players have just three seconds to decide how they are going to respond to the challenge. This forces most into a gut-reaction that they hope will help them get their way without having to invest any real effort into an otherwise difficult solution.

Traditionally the outcome is determined by hand gestures, but the strategies behind them are just as evident when we try to avoid confrontation on more important issues.

Rock: The aggressive response, ready to smash the weak two-fingered scissors thrown by the opponent. We see this reaction all the time at home and at work. "Procrastinator? I always get my work done on time!" "The break room microwave was dirty before I heated my leftover spaghetti!" It is an effort to completely discredit or smash the problem and is usually handled with enough passion to make sure it doesn't resurface anytime soon.

Paper: The subtle yet strategic move that hopes to cover up the rock and the confidence in which it was thrown. Have you ever come across a problem and quickly tried to cover it up or downplay its significance? I can recall getting bubble gum stuck in my hair at a young age. I quickly grabbed a pair of scissors and cut it out, and then put my hair in a ponytail so my mom wouldn't notice the missing 4-inch chunk. Classic cover-up paper strategy.

Scissors: The sneaky move that is willing to risk being smashed in exchange for the satisfaction of making a Pac-Man-like approach toward the opponent's paper hand. Think back to when you used to cut random shapes into a folded piece of paper to make a snowflake. It's still that same sheet of paper, but it looks a nicer once a few pieces are missing. Kind of like when you bomb your sales pitch meeting because you were up all night binge-watching Netflix but only tell your boss the potential client said now wasn't the right time to buy.

Take a minute and self-reflect. Do any of these sound familiar? If so, you are not alone.

Our inherent desire to win causes us to discredit, cover up or even disguise problems to avoid having to slow down and course-correct. The good news is that the more aware we become of our avoidance tendencies, the better we can hold ourselves accountable to change.

My go-to response when cornered is scissors. Unless of course, your tendency is rock.

In that case, it's best two out of three.