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The level of success you achieve in life and or in business is in direct proportion to the quality and quantity of your decision-making.
Motivational Speaker Alex Mandossian summed up the whole issue of decision-making beautifully and succinctly when he said:
"Doing isn't difficult. Deciding to do is."
For you see nothing happens until a decision is made. You've probably heard that nothing happens until a sale is made but think about it. When you make a decision you've effectively sold yourself on an idea.
The problem is that people sometimes struggle to make even the simplest of decisions and because of this they remain stuck. They're almost in a state of paralysis.
One reason for this is that people not only have the freedom to choose their own way; often they also have a multitude of choices. And while, on the one hand, the latter can be a blessing, it can also be a curse as when confronted with too many options the mind becomes confused and its decision-making capacity is diminished.
Unfortunately, indecisiveness can derail your chances of achieving success. As Napoleon Hill discovered:
"Men who succeed reach decisions promptly, and change them, if at all, very slowly. Men who fail, reach decisions, if at all, very slowly, and change them frequently, and quickly."
Napoleon Hill also goes on to say that indecisiveness and procrastination are twin brothers. People procrastinate on making decisions because then they don't have to take action. However, they are shooting themselves in the foot because they cannot make progress towards their goals if they don't make a decision.
People often worry about making the wrong decision and yes, it is possible to make a mistake, but most mistakes can be corrected. Often the route to your goal is not direct and you have to keep adjusting the direction of your course until you reach your destination. And the more you improve your decision-making skills the fewer mistakes you'll make.
So just how do you go about improving your decision-making skills? Well, you start with the very next decision you have to make. T Harv Eker said that:
"The way you do anything is the way you do everything."
In other words, if you have poor decision-making skills it's not going to only show up when you have to make a big decision. It's going to show up in every facet of your life. You probably hesitate in deciding what shoes to wear, which restaurant to have lunch at or whether to drive or use public transport to get to your meeting.
So get into the habit of making the simple decisions swiftly. Also, notice and congratulate yourself when you do this. Practice this relentlessly for at least 30 days. You will then find that it becomes easier to make more challenging decisions because you will have installed a new habit.
In addition, notice the positive consequences of each of your decisions because you can be certain that just as every decision you fail to make has a cost every decision you do make has a benefit. In other words, regularly perform cost-benefit analysis of the key decisions that you make. You see, at the moment you may be indecisive but you may not be fully taking into account what your decisiveness is truly costing you.
For instance, how much did you lose when you hesitated on making that deal? How much did you potentially lose when you didn't apply for that job even though it was perfect for you?
However, it's also important to do the opposite as well and acknowledge what you gained by being decisive. Take note of both the tangible and the intangible benefits. When you do this you'll be quick to recognise the full benefits of being decisive and you'll find that your decisiveness as well as the level of success you achieve in life will come on by leaps and bounds.
Decision-making is an important leadership skill. People do not have confidence in someone who is indecisive. However, the most important person to successfully lead in this life is you for as as Robert F. Bennett said:
"Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself."
I had a personal aha moment while coaching a client today. As I was citing an example I had a moment of revelation. It amazed me that I hadn't thought about this particular situation in this manner before.
At school I naturally had different English teachers. My marks were generally good but when I had one particular teacher my marks were always lower than usual. What's more, a certain group of individuals in the class always received better marks than I did. It was frustrating. And this was a pattern that repeated itself several times.
I perceived that the teacher has a bias towards these individuals and, to be fair, other situations supported this view. Now this view could have been true or false but what happened is that I resigned myself to the fact that when I had this teacher I would receive lower marks. It's not that I didn't try to get better marks but the expectation was always at the back of my mind that my grades would be relatively low.
Today I realised that, whether or not the teacher did indeed have a prejudice, I affected my results. I expected lower marks and I wasn't disappointed. Like it or not I attracted those marks.
"Our thoughts create our reality - where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go."
Peter McWilliams
Now, it could have been that this particular teacher wanted me to work harder, to really stretch myself. She might have been trying to communicate to me that to excel I had to do more than the ordinary. If I did this the outcome may have still been the same regarding my marks but I would have certainly grown more.
I could have been more proactive about this matter and actually asked her what it would take to get higher marks. I recall an episode of ER where Dr Peter Benton played by Eric La Salle was confronted by one of his mentees and asked why he was so hard on him. I don't recall the exact dialogue but Dr Benton effectively told him that the reason why he was tough on him was because he wanted him to excel and not be content with mediocrity. Aha!
My teacher has passed on but her influence continues to live. Whatever, this teacher's motive I am grateful for the lessons she has taught me. This shift in perception is causing me to look at other situations in a new light.
I think even my teacher would appreciate the irony in the following quote:
"To begin with, our perception of the world is deformed, incomplete. Then our memory is selective. Finally, writing transforms."
Claude Simon
There may be situations in your life right now where a shift in your perception could make all the difference to how you feel and how you consequently act. So take a new look at any situation that may be troubling you. See how a change in your perception can help you to overcome the challenge presented. It's so much more empowering to be at cause rather than effect.
In a garden there stands a majestic tree. In the winter it stands bare, stripped of its splendour but in the spring it produces a mass of beautiful white blossoms. The flowers appear over the course of a few days like kernels of corn which have reached bursting point.
This grand annual showcase is a poignant reminder of the quote by Anais Nin:
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
Many people lament about not being able to truly master success and achieve their full potential. It's like they're caught in a tight bud whose development has, for some reason, been stifled. The thing is, if instead of fulfilling your true destiny you do indeed remain in a bud you're robbing the world of your unique gifts.
But the question is why does this happen in the first place?
Year after year, the tree in the garden blossoms. It knows of no other way of existence. It simply abides by the Laws of Nature and the Laws of the Universe. The tree doesn't worry about what will happen when it blossoms. It doesn't worry that its beautiful flowers are transient. It doesn't hold flowers in reserve. It produces its flowers in abundance. The tree simply fulfils its destiny.
You are a higher life-form than the tree. In fact, you're the highest life-form of all. Success is your birthright.
The difference between you and a tree is that you can think and you can choose. So while the tree abides by the Laws of the Universe you don't have to.
You can consider different options and different paths to take to achieve your goals. But the irony is that unless you abide by the Laws of the Universe your success will be limited and your results will be inconsistent.
So while the tree simply flows with nature and exists in harmony with Universal Laws you will sometimes live in harmony with laws and at other times you will be out of step with these laws. The good thing is that you will know in which state you exist because the Universe always gives excellent feedback by the way of your results.
Simply put, if you're achieving the results and success you desire then you're working in harmony with the Universal Laws.
One of the many reasons why people do not achieve the level of success they desire is because they worry about what it would be like to achieve their goals and be successful. Some worry that their family and or friends might become resentful of their success. Some people think that they will not be able to handle the extra responsibilities that come with success. Some think that becoming wealthy as a result of being successful might change who they are.
They start to rationalise that becoming successful might not be such a good idea after all. Of course these reasons are generally ill-founded. Nonetheless, they're powerful enough to keep them from achieving their goals. They sabotage their success and when the time comes for them to bloom they remain tight in a bud.
If you can relate to this a good exercise is to imagine yourself 5 years down the line. What would life be like for you if you don't take the 'risk' to blossom and things continued along their present trend?
~ Where would you be living?
~ How much money would you be earning?
~ What would you be doing for fun and recreation?
~ What would be the state of your health?
~ How would your family be living?
Answer these questions honestly and you'll find that the perceived 'risk' is insignificant compared to the potential gain. You'll stop resisting change and your true nature. You'll give yourself permission to grow, 'blossom' and spread your abundance.
You'll start to live in harmony with the Universal Laws. You'll become a master at achieving success in your life and you'll give the world the invaluable gift of YOU.
Nature governed by Universal Laws and so operates in a very orderly manner.
In your society you are also governed by laws and if you fall foul of those laws you suffer the consequences. There are a multitude of different laws and some of them can very complex. So lawyers specialise in different types of law. In other words they become experts in a specific area of the law.
Now while you're probably aware of the general laws that govern your society you're unlikely to know the laws inside and out. So, at some point in your life, you'll probably hire an expert lawyer to represent you in a certain situation.
However, what many people fail to realise is that we are too are a part of nature and so the Universal Laws which apply to nature also apply to us. Yet, the majority of people stumble through life haphazardly hitting their goal targets because they do take the time to understand, let alone master, the Universal Laws.
The trouble is when it comes to your life you can't delegate. Only you can live your life and if you don't learn, understand and work in accordance to the Universal Laws you will suffer the consequences. You'll experience random success and you're likely to feel extremely frustrated because things just don't seem to go your way.
Many have described life as a game. However, you can't win any game if you don't know the rules. So to win the game of life you have to understand its rules and then apply them. It's that simple.
"Life is a game. Play it."
Mother Teresa
The movie "The Secret" did an excellent job increasing people's awareness of the Law of Attraction and how it works. However, many people have become frustrated with their attempts to manifest what they desire.
One reason why people fail to manifest their goals when applying the Law of Attraction is because it's only one of the laws that you must abide by if you want to live your ideal life.
"Most people don't ever go beyond where they're at because they just don't understand the rules or the laws that govern their success."
Bob Proctor, The 11 Unforgotten Laws
Others seem to achieve success by default. It seems that whatever they decide to do they achieve success and yet if asked how they managed to be so successful they often struggle to explain their level of success. Bob Proctor describes this phenomenon as follows:
"A small percentage of people live in harmony with the laws most of the time but there's only a small percentage of that percentage of that particular group that really understands what's happening. Most people who are really successful cannot truly articulate on why they are."
Still, if an astute person who understood the Laws of the Universe examined how they achieved their goals they too would be able to see how these individuals were working with the Laws albeit unconsciously. They would notice how these people worked in harmony with the Laws.
For example they would observe that these successful individuals provide enormous value wherever they go and whatever they and consequently are rewarded by the Law of Compensation. They focus their attention on the things they desire and so are able to significantly to expand these areas - Law of Increase. They interpret the trends that exist around them whether or not the general public think of these things as positive or negative and instead of trying to fight whatever is happening they simply learn how to adapt to whatever is going on and go with the flow - the Law of Non-Resistance.
Unfortunately, you're born with no awareness of the Universal Laws. This awareness usually comes later in life. By this time your programming is such that you have been effectively programmed to violate the laws. So to succeed and win the game of life you need to understand the rules of the game of life and then reprogram your mind so that you play by those rules. Only then can you truly become a master of achieving life success.
Fear of failure is a key reason why many people do not achieve their full potential and the success they desire in life.
Failure is often associated with the feelings of rejection, embarrassment, disappointment and a host of other negative emotions. However, what many fail to accept is that failing at a task does not make you a failure. It's how you perceive the outcome of your actions that determines whether or not you consider yourself to be a failure.
Failure is simply feedback.
It simply lets you know that the combination of action steps that you took in your attempt to achieve a particular goals was not successful. And here's the thing - you can get so wrapped up in your feelings of being a failure that you miss seeing that while overall you may not have achieved your desired outcome that there may have been elements of what you did that were successful and that by tweaking and improving these elements you can probable achieve the result you desire.
"Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach."
Roger Von Oech
Alternatively, it may not have even been the action steps that you took that were at fault but the order in which you took those action steps.
Also when many people perceive that they have failed instead of wasting no time at all in getting back in the game, they procrastinate. And procrastination plays a big role in the success equation. In Formula 1, for example, you often see what appear to be horrific crashes. The truth is that nowadays safety measures have improved to such a degree that the impact of a crash on a driver is not as bad as our imagination would let us believe.
And once the driver involved in the crash has been given the medical all-clear they can't wait to get behind the wheel again and race. They realise that at some point they may crash again and that throughout each and every race they'll probably make numerous errors. Some will be minute but others will be very costly indeed. However, each and every time they get behind the wheel they're aiming to do the very best they can do. And sometimes, this will be rewarded with a race win.
When a driver doesn't win a race he doesn't brand himself as a failure. He simply analyses the race to see what mistakes he has made and where he can improve. And he focuses on the next race.
In some industries failing is vitally important. For instance, it is important to know how and under what conditions an engine will fail. As the American Engineer Charles F. Kettering said:
"The biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work."
Life is a game and so make failing part of that game. Too many people stifle their progress in life because they're too afraid of making a mistake. Noah St John, author of "The Secret Code of Success", advocates giving yourself permission to succeed. The irony is that to succeed in life you also have to give yourself permission to fail:
"Don't be afraid to fail. Don't waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It's OK to fail. If you're not failing, you're not growing."
So get ready to fall flat on your face and get up again in your quest for success. And for a proven system to help you master achieving success click the link below for a comprehensive coaching program that will empower you to achieve great success in life.
Success Mastery
For a limited time only you'll also receive a special 5-part video series from Bob Proctor where he covers 5 of the "missing laws" of manifestation.
The level of success you achieve in life and or in business is in direct proportion to the quality and quantity of your decision-making.
