How many decisions do you make in a day? We decide whether or not to hit "snooze", what shirt to wear, what to have for breakfast, and that is all before our day even gets off to a good start.
Think about some of these decisions for a moment, and the impact they could have on your day. Let’s say you decide to skip breakfast one morning, and just grab a cup of coffee for the road. It takes you 5 minutes less time, and thereby causing you to get in an accident that you would have avoided had you eaten your normal breakfast. Now, how would your day have been different otherwise? You would not have been in that accident. You would not have been late for work. Your car would not be in the body shop, and the ripple effect of this would not cause a drain on your time and finances for months. All this from one simple decision.
I know that was an extreme example, but I use it to illustrate the importance of decisions. Call it a ripple effect, the butterfly effect, or whatever you like. Every decision you make has benefits and/or consequences. Some are much less obvious than in the example above, and others much more.
Many decisions have a cumulative effect. One decision leads us to make another, and another until things have gotten so far off track that our lives are no longer recognizable. How many people have you known in your life who just cannot ever seem to get anywhere in life? Is it some cosmic cloud that hangs over them? Or maybe they just do not know any better, so they keep getting into trouble? Or, do you think it is more likely that they know better, but through a series of bad decisions, they have gotten into this rut. Now, thanks to the programming in their brain that was caused by their situation, which was in turn caused by their decisions, they continue to make bad decisions.
The worst part is, once you let the bad programming in, it spreads like a virus. It causes you to make bad decisions in other areas of your life. Now, rather than just making poor financial decisions, this person has started to make poor decisions on relationships and every other aspect of their lives. Most addicts you find got that way from this same cycle of bad decisions.
We like to compartmentalize different areas of our lives, but in reality, it is all intertwined. Your finances, marriage, relationships with your kids, extended family, co-workers and every other aspect of your life are directly affected by your decisions.
Take the above example. One decision to skip breakfast cased at least one wrecked car, a financial burden on both parties involved, regardless of who was at fault, lost productivity since you were late for work, worry to your spouse that you are alright, and these are just the immediate damages. How much time will it have cost you in dealing with the insurance companies, body shops and others? What about money? Do you have rental car reimbursement? What will be going through your mind every time to pass that spot in the road for the next several months? What will happen to your insurance rates? What about the other person’s insurance? None of this even considers that someone may have been injured.
I think you get the point. If one seemingly innocent decision can have such drastic effects, then it should come as no surprise when bad money decisions start to take over a person’s life. It could start as simply as defaulting on one credit card, and before long it has escalated to the point of filing for bankruptcy, foreclosure, repossession and potentially even divorce.
Now, there is hope. No matter how many bad decisions you have made, or where you are in life now, it can all be turned around. And actually, it is much easier than you may think. The trick is, you have to get control of what is going into your mind. Control the flow of input, and you can take control of the thought patterns that flow out. This is the way to transform your life into what you may have only dreamt of before.
Do not wait for things to get bad (or worse). Start making a difference TODAY!
Not tomorrow...
Not next week...
Not after you file bankruptcy, or get a divorce...
BUT NOW!
Take control of YOUR MIND!
Email me and I will show you how to get started.
Great post Bill. People need to understand that miracles will not happen unless you work for them. You need to make the decision now because if you keep procrastinating you will never get past what you are doing. You will be doing what you are doing for the rest of your life. Which is "NOTHING"!
ReplyDeleteAmazing I was just writing about the same thing. Great minds have a connection Bill. Love the post. It is always up to the individual to make the necessary changes to have what they want. It's not going to fall into your lap, however if you're not careful a house could land on your head somewhere in Kansas, Dorthy.
ReplyDeleteThank you both Tim and Arthur, for your comments.
ReplyDeleteThis post was a culmination of many things going on right now. From reading through Chapter 3 of Think and Grow Rich, to conversations I have been having with several friends and business partners, this post was born. I had to just stop myself because I could have gone on for days on this topic.