How To Make Better Decisions
At first glance, it appears that life is either a joyous experience or a depressing slog depending on our ability to make good decisions.
When we evaluate our current situation in life with regard to how we got to where we are now, we usually look to a few big decisions that we believe made all the difference along the way.
"Choosing that school to study at.."
"Accepting that job.."
"Dating that person.."
It seems that these big decisions are what ultimately led us to the life we lead today, and the typical way of looking at life in front of us is that if we can just make better decisions, we'll be in a better place in the future than where we are today.
I call bullshit.
I challenge the idea that singular decisions are what define the quality of our life experience.
The revelation I'm about to unveil is so powerful that if you can fully grasp it, has the power to change your entire life forever.
If you have a dream you're excited about bringing to life or a certain lifestyle you're passionate about creating, then you're in luck. I'm about to share a way of thinking that will transform any notion of impossibility you had into one of complete and total belief in your dreams becoming reality.
Let's start off with the challenge question:
"Is there such thing as a bad decision?"
Let's take for example, 'Having kids'
Let's say a couple is talking about whether or not to have kids, and they think that
'Having Kids' is a bad decision.
Well, that depends, having kids is a multi-layered decision.
Is having sex the bad decision (tbd)?
Is not using protection tbd?
Is not getting an abortion tbd?
Is not giving the kid up for adoption tbd?
Is not reading certain parenting books tbd?
Is not having strong family ties tbd?
Is not reading them bed time stories regularly enough tbd?
Is having the second kid tbd?
Is having the third tbd?
And throughout the course of having kids, there are of course going to be moments of happiness and contentment.
Even if this is a "bad decision", other things come up that seem worse such as frustrating loan officers and people in line at stories.
I don't think you can make a "bad decision".
Decisions, in the way we colloquially speak about them, seem to actually be intentions manifested on a spectrum from not manifested at one end to completely manifested at the other end with the ultimate outcome being the result of myriad other decisions being made all the time.
You either don't manifest it at all (0%) or you manifest it entirely (100%) or it becomes manifested somewhere in the middle depending on how committed you are to your intention while making decisions on a daily basis.
Therefore, to ask "Is quitting my current job for that new job a bad decision?" or "Is moving to that other state a bad decision?" or even "Is having kids a bad decision?" isn't a proper question, which is to say it's a misuse of language to contrive a grammatically correct question from gobbledygook.
Whether or not quitting your job to start your business or moving to a new state or having kids results in a "bad or good decision" is actually a byproduct of the million decisions made after the initial intention is made.
Let that sink in for a minute..
Whether or not any intention you create ultimately results in your desired outcome is a direct correlate of how many micro-decisions you can make that are aligned with your initial intention.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
For me, this is a big realization. This means that each of us is 100% responsible for the current and future experience of our own lives.
If you have a dream to run your own company, and you aren't calling people every single day to test your product and emailing potential investors for funding and spreading the word on social media, then you shouldn't be surprised when your intention to run a company is only partially manifested..at best.
My personal trainer has a quote that I love that directly applies to this situation.
"Don't be disappointed with the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do."
-Craig Gundlach
Each of us has a dream.
For some of us, it's traveling to every country in the world.
For others, it's being the CEO of a large public company.
And still for others it's to be the best parent or sibling or friend they can be.
but..
But don't be surprised if you don't travel the world if you aren't making decisions to save and plan.
Don't be surprised if you don't feel like a great parent or friend when you aren't dedicating time and energy to your relationship.
Dreams take many shapes and forms.
But in the end, whether or not you actualize your dreams directly depends on your ability to make the millions of necessary micro decisions in ways that are aligned with your intention.
Here's to living your dream life and the courage and power required to make the millions of micro-decisions that decide your destiny.
Your life is yours to create.
--
With gratitude,
Dennis McGinley
Founder and Performance Coach @ STRIVENT
"Actualize your Potential!"
FREE RESOURCES:
If you want to expand, grow, and develop, the following resources are available to you 100% FREE!
1. The first will pop up after a few seconds on the site (I know, sorry about that, but it’s a really awesome resource and it’s 100% FREE so I feel like it’s a fair deal). It’s called the Habit Builder, and it's designed to help create momentum in the tasks that are important to you by visually tracking your progress over a few weeks.
2. The second is a worksheet called “Gaining Clarity” and is a series of open ended questions that encourage you to think deeply about what the most appealing version of your life looks like and helps you create a ROADMAP for thinking through the steps to achieve that end. It can be accessed halfway down the home page.
3. If you've done both of those and we haven't had a conversation yet, it's time to schedule a free
Discovery Call with me so we can find our more about each other and see if we can't make your life more incredible!
PAID RESOURCES:
If you're looking to understand the latest science around health and wellbeing and looking for practical ways to integrate those findings into your life, pick up a copy of the book!
The book, IMPRESSION, is both an inspiring call to action and an educational tool that will equip the reader with the knowledge they need to live a healthy and fulfilling life. For at least half a century we've been told that health consisted solely of diet and exercise, when in reality it's much more than that.
IMPRESSION explores the ten interrelated elements of our wellbeing and how they each play a pivotal role in determining our lifestyle. From the food you eat and how often you are fulfilled by your work, to the type of people you surround yourself with and your sex life, each of these choices influences your level of overall wellbeing.
IMPRESSION is an acronym for the ten interrelated elements of our wellbeing:
Intellectual
Monetary
Physical
Restoration
Emotional
Social
Spiritual
Intimacy
Occupational
Nutrition
IMPRESSION is an investigative look at how certain types of lifestyles lead to happy, healthy, and engaging lives, while other lifestyles lead to a host of problematic thoughts, feelings, and emotions about the past, present, and future.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS:
1. Mastermind: STRIVENT Masterminds are 3 month long programs that bring together small groups of intentional, inspiring, and ambitious "dream-chasers" to meet once a week on a Zoom call to create a space that holds each other powerfully accountable to the big goals we all want to achieve, specifically in the realms of Health, Wealth, and Relationships.
Next Mastermind starts in January 2019. Apply Here!
