Your Decisions Determine Your Destiny

Choices are at the root of every one of your results. Each choice starts a behavior that over time becomes a habit.

— Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect

Your decisions (both conscious and non-conscious) determine your destiny… To put it another way: every action you take springs from a decision you make, which determines your direction in life. If the first thing you do when you wake up each morning is to look at your phone, you’ve already made a crucial decision that, to a certain extent, shapes the rest of your day.

If you wake up each morning and decide to take a moment to feel deep and authentic gratitude for another day in which you get to wake up and fulfill your mission—then this, too, is a crucial decision that’ll shape the rest of your day. 

Everything in your life right now—your partner, your work, your bank account, your environment—is the result of a decision you made at some point. 

The very fact that you’re reading my words right now is the result of a decision you made. 

Each and every decision is like a vote: 

• If you decide to procrastinate on an important project, you’re voting to fail at work.
• If you decide to wait for someone else to tell you what to do today, you’re voting to relinquish control over your day. (Believe it or not, some people actually prefer it this way.)
• If you decide to start taking small steps daily toward your goals, you’re voting for a better future for yourself. 

Here’s my point: you’ve got to bring awareness of your choices to the forefront… And remind yourself regularly that every decision you make has a direct impact on what your life looks like in the future. 

Things don’t just happen to you in life; they happen because somewhere along the line, you made a decision that led to that moment.

But our biggest challenge isn’t that we make bad decisions willingly… 

It’s that many of our decisions are made subconsciously and automatically—in other words, a healthy chunk of our decisions happen by way of habit.

Many of us “sleepwalk” through our daily decisions, unaware that we’ve even made them. 

Just as the compound effect can work for you as you increase the number of small, smart choices you make each day, it can also work against you (and probably has been) in the very same small, seemingly insignificant decisions you make on a daily basis.

Simply being aware of this can help you make smarter decisions. 

Here are some ways to get started… 

Actionable insights

1. Shape your day, your way. If you’re in the habit of waking up and grabbing your phone to look at emails, texts, or social media – you’re allowing other people’s priorities to shape your day. If, on the other hand, you dedicate the first hour of your day to nourishing your own needs—by working out, meditating or praying, and planning your day—then you’re putting yourself back in control, back in the driver’s seat. Here’s how to apply this insight to your life: 

• Begin each morning by writing down your Big 3 for the day on an index card. These are the 3 most important tasks, projects, or goals you plan to work on or accomplish for that particular day. Write these items down, and block off time in your calendar to work on them first—before allowing other people’s priorities to dictate your day.
• Alternative approach: Begin each morning by writing down your 1-2-5 Priorities on an index card. This approach is similar to the one above, but it’s based on my 1-2-5 Method™ – which offers a bit more structure: Write down 1 Big Thing, 2 Medium Things, and 5 Little Things to accomplish each day. Learn more about how it works and pick up a pack of 1-2-5 Daily Productivity Cards here.

2. Make decisions that help you. Anytime you need to make an important decision, ask yourself the following question prior to finalizing it: 

• “Will this decision help me or hinder me from achieving my goals?” 
• If it helps you, move forward. If it hinders you, renegotiate the decision. 

3. Decide to be grateful. One of the most impactful decisions you can make each day is to be grateful. Actively putting yourself in a state of genuine gratitude for what you have and who you are can positively influence nearly every area of your life: it diminishes stress, generates positive emotions, makes us more creative, improves our relationships, makes us more pleasant to be around, and generally helps us have a healthier and happier disposition about the life we lead. Here’s a simple way to apply this insight to your life: 

• Keep a gratitude journal. Each morning, take one minute to write down at least one thing you’re grateful for. It doesn’t have to be something big. It just needs to be something you can genuinely feel grateful for. 
• Do it in the morning, before starting your workday. Gratitude journaling can be done anytime during the day, but I’d recommend doing it in the morning before beginning your workday. Why? Because genuine gratitude reverberates into the rest of your entire day, setting off a domino effect of optimism with which you can approach your work, your clients, your family, and everyone else you cross paths with. For more ideas on how to practice gratitude journaling, go here.