Power of Your Decisions

Are you today what you hoped to be 5 or 10 years ago? What is more important is have you decided on where you want to be in the next 5 to 10 years of your life?

In his book, Awaken the Giant Within, Anthony Robbins makes such a simple, yet profound statement. He says "You see, ten years from now, you will surely arrive. The question is: Where? Who will you have become? How will you live? What will you contribute? Now is the time to design the next ten years of your life – not once they're over". Reading this statement really hit home from me. Many times, we are in the "I wish I had done that" mode – we always seem to realize what we could have done a lot later than when we could have actually done it.

The reason for this is that we are not able to make firm decisions and commit to them. Or we let the circumstances or the people around us make our decisions for us.

What does it take to make a decision? Making a decision takes an honest and courageous stance from you to understand what it is you really want in life and to not let your environment make decisions for you. To test whether you have truly made a decision, observe whether you have actually taken action. It is through acting upon your decision that you demonstrate commitment to it.

What does it take to make a decision? Making a decision takes an honest and courageous stance from you to understand what it is you really want in life and to not let your environment make decisions for you. To test whether you have truly made a decision, observe whether you have actually taken action. It is through acting upon your decision that you demonstrate commitment to it.

Unfortunately, many people never make the decision to live their life according to the highest standards because they are too consumed in a victim state of mind that blames their parents, or their teachers, or their lack of opportunities. Anthony Robbins describes these belief systems to not only be limiting, but destructive and that the power of decisions can allow us to overcome all these belief systems in an instant if we so wish.

Anything that anyone has accomplished, whether it was on an individual level, or in their family, community, society, or the world was a result of a decision that they made. So you too, right now, this moment, can make a decision about who you are, how you want to live your life from now on and what you want to accomplish.

Anthony Robbins states the power of decisions simply but beautifully: "True decisions are the catalyst for turning our dreams into reality".

So, like most people, you may realize the importance of making decisions; however, you are not sure how to make those life changing decisions. Therefore, you just don't make them.

You continue to state 'preferences' such as "it would be great if I was able to get this job" or "I would feel so much better if I only lost 10 pounds" or "it would be nice if my kids were better behaved". So you state your preferences, but you don't actually make a decision.

The way to overcome this fear is not to know exactly what is going to happen, but to decide that you will make it happen, by the will of God. This is in fact what the word decision means. "De" in Latin means from and "caedre" means to cut. Therefore, as Anthony Robbins states in his Awaken the Giant Book , "making a true decision means committing to achieving a result, and then cutting yourself off from any other possibility".

Many of us may not be accustomed to being this serious and clear about our decisions. However, it is this clarity that gives us the power to act upon our decisions. So once you have decided to lose those 10 pounds, or to increase your knowledge in a certain area or to even write a book, you will do all you possibly can to achieve it.

So how is it that we can learn to make powerful decisions? What is the ultimate secret? Are you ready for it? The secret is to make them. Yes, make a powerful decision today. What have you been procrastinating or avoiding for days, months, or even years? Challenge yourself, be courageous, and make that decision to improve your life today. And when you do it once, do it again, and again, until you become accustomed to making powerful decisions as opposed to stating preferences.

If you're not sure where to start with your powerful decisions, think of three main areas which are your decisions about your attitude, your decisions on your values, and your decisions about your actions.

How satisfied are you today with your attitude, values, and actions? How do they serve you in your life? Are they constant barriers for you and causes of failure? Or are they factors that contribute to your success and happiness?

A final important point to mention is most people don't make decisions because they are afraid it will be the 'wrong' decision. This can be very paralyzing and limiting to your potential and success. As human beings prone to error, we will not always make the right decisions, but what's important is to be flexible and learn from our decisions in order to make better ones in the future.

Embrace your ability to make powerful decisions today and witness the profound difference they can and will make in your life.