“It’s in your moment of decisions that your destiny is shaped”
Three decision that you make every moment of your life control your destiny. These three decisions determine what you’ll notice, how you’ll feel, what you’ll do, and ultimately what you will contribute and who you become. If you don’t control these three decisions, you simply aren’t in control of your life. When you do control them, you begin to sculpt your experiences.
The three decisions that control your destiny are:
1- Your decision about what you focus on.
2- Your decision about what things mean to you.
3- Your decision about what to do to create the results you desire.
You see it’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in the past that determines who you become. Rather it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what your going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny. Know that if anyone is enjoying greater success than you in any area, they’re making these three decisions differently from you in some context or situation. Too many of us don’t make the majority of our decisions consciously, especially these three absolutely crucial ones; in so doing we pay a major price. In fact, most people live what I call “The Niagara Syndrome.” I believe that life is like a river, and that most people jump on the river of life without ever really deciding where they want to end up. So in a short period of time, they get caught up in the current: current events, current fears, current challenges. When they come to forks in the river, they don’t consciously decide where they want to go, or which is the right direction for them. They merely “go with the flow.” They become part of the mass of people who are directed by the environment instead of by their own values. As a result they feel out of control. They remain in this unconscious state until one day the sound of the raging water awakens them, and they discover that they’re 5 feet from Niagara Falls in a boat with no oars. At this point they say, “oh shoot!” But by then it’s too late. They’re going to take a fall. Sometimes it’s an emotional fall. Sometimes it’s a physical fall. Sometimes it’s a financial fall. It’s likely that whatever challenges you have in your life currently could have been avoided by some better decisions upstream.
How do we turn things around if we’re caught up in the momentum of the raging river? Either make the decision to put both oars in the water and start paddling like crazy in a new direction, or decide to plan ahead. Set a course for where you really want to go, and have a plan or map so that you can make quality decisions along the way.
Although you may have never thought of it, your brain has already constructed an internal system for making decisions. This system acts as an invisible force, directing all your thoughts, actions, and feelings, both good and bad, every moment of your life. It controls how you evaluate everything in your life, and it’s largely driven by your subconscious mind. The scary thing is that most people never consciously set this system up, it’s been set up through the years by sources as diverse as parents, peers, teachers, television, advertisers and the culture at large. This system is comprised of five components: 1- Your core beliefs and unconscious rules, 2- Your life values, 3- Your references,
4- The habitual questions that you ask yourself, 5- The emotional state you experience in each moment. The synergistic relationship of these five elements exerts a force that’s responsible for prompting you to or stopping you from taking action, causing you to anticipate or worry about the future, making you feel loved or rejected, and dictating your level of success and happiness. It determines why you do what you do and why you don’t do some things that you know you need to do. By changing any one of these five elements - whether it’s a core belief or rule, a value, a reference, a question, or an emotional state - you can immediately produce a powerful and measurable change in your life. Most importantly, you’ll be fighting the cause instead of the effects. Remember, if your overeating on a regular basis, the real cause is usually a values problem or a beliefs problem rather then a problem with the food itself.
The good news is that we can override this system by making conscious decisions at any moment in our lives. We don’t have to allow the programming of our past control our present and our future. You can reinvent yourself by systematically organizing your beliefs and values in a way that pulls you in the direction of your life’s design.
Taken from the book “Awaken The Giant Within You” by Anthony Robbins p. 40, 41, 42. $22.00 Chapters
