Decisions Decisions

Decisions Decisions

Decisions decisions...Stuck. It's the most common complaint I hear: stuck in a relationship, stuck in a dead-end job, stuck in life itself. But what if I told you that feeling isn't about your circumstances, it's about something far more fundamental?The root of that stuck feeling comes down to one critical skill most of us have never properly developed: decision-making. It's not your conditions. It's your decisions that determine the quality of your life. A series of conscious decisions.

The Fear That Paralyzes Us

What stops most people from making decisions is fear. Fear of being wrong. Fear of consequences. Fear of imperfection. We tell ourselves we need more information, but that's usually just fear dressed up as prudence. The smartest people often make terrible investors. Why? Because they want to know everything before deciding. If you wait till you know everything, the opportunity is gone. That's true not just in finance. That's true in life. The uncomfortable truth is that absolute certainty doesn't exist. The only certainty we have is faith, not necessarily religious faith, but the capacity to see beyond the present moment and move forward anyway.

The Three-Step Process Most People Miss

Here's where most of us go wrong: we think decision-making is a one-step process. Make a choice and you're done, right? Wrong. We can break it down into three distinct stages: decide, commit, and resolve.

Deciding is the moment, the war in your head where you cut off all other possibilities. But that moment can change, which is why so many legitimate decisions never get followed through.

Committing takes that decision into the future. It requires creating compelling reasons to follow through even when things get tough. Within minutes of making any decision, do something that commits you to follow through. Book the meeting. Enroll in the class. Set up the conversation. Create momentum immediately.

Resolving is the final stage, the place of complete peace where it's done in you, even if not yet done in the world. It's the difference between a basketball player who might miss a free throw and LeBron James driving to the basket with absolute certainty. You're not just hoping anymore. You KNOW !

The Real Cost of Not Deciding

Here's what we don't talk about enough: not deciding is itself a decision, usually the worst one. When you refuse to choose, you're choosing to be at the effect of circumstances rather than the creator of your life. Stress comes from feeling that events control you rather than you controlling events. Every time you make a decision and act on it, you strengthen your decision-making muscles. Every time you avoid deciding, you weaken them. The question isn't whether you'll make the right decision. It's whether you'll make any decision at all. Because if you're wrong, you'll find out quicker and can adjust. If you're right, you'll gain momentum.

So what's one decision you could make today that would increase the quality of your life? Not someday. Today. Because that's where change actually happens, in the space between knowing what you should do and finally deciding to do it.