One decision at a time.

“Wherever you see a successful person or business, someone once made a courageous decision.”-Peter Drucker

Decision (n.) mid-15c., “act of deciding,” from Old French décision (14c.), from Latin decisionem (nominative decisio) “a decision, settlement, agreement,” noun of action from past-participle stem of decidere “to decide, determine,” literally “to cut off,” from de “off” (see de-) + caedere “to cut” (from PIE root *kae-id- “to strike”). Deciding means to cut off from other options. It is non-negotiable; you have decided where and what you want to do with your life. Making life-changing decisions, especially those not conforming to societal preconceived values, can be tricky. A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. When most of us make New Year’s resolutions, we make a wish that lasts for 4-8 weeks. As the going gets tough, as they would ultimately do, we go back to our old ways.

A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something.

Making tough decisions is hard, and sticking to those decisions is even more challenging. We make little choices throughout our day that determine how far we will go in the long run. According to a Cornell research study, we make, on average, 226.7 daily decisions on food alone. (Wansink and Sobal, 2007). We are said to make an average of 35,000 decisions daily. The decisions we make in life determine our trajectory and life outlook. We can either decide whether to be bitter or better, learn the lessons or let a situation lessen one, stay motivated or become helpless, start a fitness regimen or continue to eat junk. Your life responds to the clarity of your decisions. The more intentional you are about the decisions and declarations that you make, the more quickly and easily you will see their results echoed in your life.¹

“If you will be hard on yourself, life will be easy on you. But if you insist upon being easy on yourself, life is going to be very hard on you.” – Zig Ziglar

On your path to achieving your goals and aspirations, the road will get rough. The course will get harder, the gym sessions will feel like a chore, you will be doubted, your self-confidence will wane, and whatever will go wrong will go wrong at the least expected time. These pivotal moments wherein we make the right choices ultimately differentiate the highly successful from the non-successful. We are the result of simple but hard decisions that we need to make to change the direction of our lives. As author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn often said, “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day, while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure. Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices.“

Success is the result of an accumulation of good thinking and good choices while Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices.

Actions do have consequences; our input determines our output. As author Jim Rohn often said, success is never an accident, and failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. A decision to read one chapter of a book per day would inevitably lead to reading at least 50 books in a year. A decision to train daily for at least one hour leads to a fit body and a sound mind. A decision to watch a video tutorial instead of bingeing Netflix, a decision to leave a toxic relationship over living in pain and denial. Good choices lead to good habits, which leads to a great life.

Meditations

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Breathe Gratitude

“It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” – David Steindl-Rast

Daily Jay with Jay Shetty – Cheering or Critiquing

Instead of being a cheerleader or critique, we can be curious. It is an enquiry, not an inquisition, about expressing genuine interest in others’ undertaking. When someone shares their big ideas, you don’t need to boost it up or shoot it down. Rather, lean in into curiosity if you want to be supportive.

Daily Trip with Jeff Warren – The Forever Practice

Podcast