There is a single mental move you can make which, in a millisecond which will solve enormous problems for you. It has the potential to improve almost any personal or business situation you will ever encounter; and it could literally propel you down the path to incredible success. We have a name for this magic mental activity. It is called DECISION.

Decisions or the lack of them are responsible for the breaking or making of many a career. Individuals, who have become very proficient at making decisions, without being influenced by the opinions of others, are the same people whose annual incomes fall into the six and seven figure category. However, it is not just your income that is affected by decisions; your whole life is dominated by this power. The health of your mind and body, the well-being of your family, your social life, and the type of relationships you develop, all are dependent upon your ability to make sound decisions.

It is unfortunate that this important subject of decision-making which has such far-reaching power is not taught in our schools. To compound the problem, not only is decision-making missing from the curriculum of our educational institutions, it is also absent from most of the corporate training and human resource programs available.

So, how is a person expected to develop this mental ability? Quite simply, you must do it on your own. However, it is not difficult to learn how to make wise decisions. Armed with the proper information and by subjecting yourself to certain disciplines, you can become a very effective decision maker. You can virtually eliminate conflict and confusion in your life by becoming proficient at making decisions. Decision-making brings order to your mind, and of course, this order is then reflected in your objective world; your results.

James Allen, the great philosopher, may have been thinking of decisions when he wrote, “We think in secret and it comes to pass. Environment is but our looking glass.” No one can see you making decisions but they will almost always see the results of your decisions. The person who fails to develop their ability to make decisions is doomed because indecision sets up internal conflicts which can, without warning, escalate into all out mental and emotional wars. Psychiatrists have a name to describe these internal wars, it is ambivalence. My Oxford Dictionary tells me that ambivalence is the co-existence in one person of opposite feelings toward the same objective.

You do not require a doctorate degree in psychiatry to understand that you are going to have difficulty in your life by permitting your mind to remain in an ambivalent state for any period of time. The person who does permit it to exist will become very despondent and virtually incapable of any type of productive activity. It is obvious that anyone who finds themselves in such a mental state is not living; at best, they merely exist. A decision or a series of decisions would change everything.

A very basic law of the universe is “Create or Disintegrate”. Indecision causes disintegration. How often have you heard a person say, “I do not know what to do?” How often have you heard yourself say, “What should I do?” Think about some of the indecisive feelings you and virtually everyone on this planet experience from time to time:

Everyone, on occasion, has experienced these feelings of ambivalence. If it happens to you frequently, decide right now to stop it. The cause of ambivalence is indecision, but we must keep in mind that the truth is not always in the appearance of things. Indecision is a cause of ambivalence, however it is a secondary cause, and it is not the primary cause. People who are very proficient at making decisions have one thing in common. They have a very strong self image, a high degree of self-esteem. They may be as different as night is to day in numerous other respects, but they certainly possess confidence. Low self-esteem or a lack of confidence is the real culprit here.

Decision makers are not afraid of making an error. If and when they make an error in their decision, or fail at something, they have the ability to shrug it off. They learn from the experience but they will never submit to the failure. Every decision maker was either fortunate enough to have been raised in an environment where decision making was a part of their upbringing, or they developed the ability themselves at a later date. They are aware of something that everyone, who hopes to live a full life, must understand that “Decision making is something you cannot avoid.”

That is the cardinal principle of decision making. DECIDE RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE WITH WHATEVER YOU HAVE GOT. This is precisely why most people never master this important aspect of life. They permit their resources to dictate if and when a decision will or can be made. When John Kennedy asked Werner Von Braun what it would take to build a rocket that would carry a man to the moon and return him safely to earth, his answer was simple and direct. “They will to do it.” President Kennedy never asked if it was possible. He never asked if they could afford it or any one of a thousand other questions, all of which would have been valid questions at that time.

President Kennedy made a decision. He said, we will put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth before the end of the decade. The fact that it had never been done before in all the hundreds of thousands of years of human history was not even a consideration. He DECIDED where he was with what he had. The objective was accomplished in his mind the second he made the decision. As it is governed by natural law, it was only a matter of time before the goal was manifested in form for the whole world to see.

While in the topic of decision making, be assured that you can find money every time, whether you are selling or buying, once you decide it in your mind. If that is the only benefit you receive from this particular message on decision-making, burn it into your mind. It will change your life. You should never let money enter your mind when you are deciding whether you will or will not do something. Whether you can afford it or not should not be a consideration. Whether you want it or not should be the only consideration. You can afford anything; there is an infinite supply of money. All of the money in the world is available to you, when the decision is firmly made. If you need money, you will attract it.

I am well aware there are a good number of people who will say that is absurd. You cannot just decide to do something if you do not have the necessary resources. And that is fine if that is the way they choose to think. This is a very limiting way of thinking. In truth, it probably is not thinking at all; it is very likely an opinion being expressed that was inherited from another older member of their family who did not think either. Thinking is very important. Decision makers are great thinkers. Do you ever give much consideration to your thoughts and how they affect the various aspects of your life?

Although this should be one of our most serious considerations, for many people it is not. There is a very small select few who make any attempt to control or govern their thoughts. Anyone who has made a study of the great thinkers, the great decision makers, the achievers of history, will know they very rarely agreed on anything when it came to the study of human life. However, there was one point on which they were in complete and unanimous agreement and that was, “We become what we think about.”

What do you think about? You and I must realize that our thoughts ultimately control every decision we make. You are the sum total of your thoughts. By taking charge this very minute, you can guarantee yourself a good day. Refuse to let unhappy, negative people or circumstances affect you. The greatest stumbling block you will encounter when making important decisions in your life is circumstance. We let circumstance get us off the hook when we should be giving it everything we have got. More dreams are shattered and goals lost because of circumstance than any other single factor. How often have you caught yourself saying, “I would like to do or have this but I cannot because…” Whatever follows “because” is the circumstance. Circumstances may cause a detour in your life but you should never permit them to stop you from making important decisions.

Napoleon said, “Circumstances; I make them.” The next time you hear someone say they would like to go for a vacation in Paris, or purchase a particular automobile but they cannot because they have no money, explain they do not need the money until they make a decision to go to Paris or purchase the car. When the decision is made, they will figure out a way to get the amount needed. They always do.

Many misguided individuals try something once or twice and if they do not hit the bull’s-eye, they feel they are a failure. Failing does not make anyone a failure, but quitting most certainly does and quitting is a decision. By following that form of reasoning, you would have to say when you make a decision to quit; you make a decision to fail.

Remember, the world will soon forget your failures in light of your achievements. Do not worry about failing, it will toughen you up and get you ready for your big win. Winning is a decision. Many years ago Helen Keller was asked if she thought there was anything worse than being blind. She quickly replied that there was something much worse. She said, “The most pathetic person in the world is a person who has their sight but no vision.”

At the age of 91, the great entrepreneur J.C. Penny was asked how his eyesight was. He replied that his sight was failing but his vision had never been better. That is really great, is it not? When a person has no vision of a better way of life, they automatically shut themselves in prison; they limit themselves to a life without hope. This frequently happens when a person has seriously tried on a number of occasions to win, only to meet with failure time after time. Repeated failures can damage a person’s self-image and cause them to lose sight of their potential. They, therefore make a decision to give up and resign themselves to their fate.

Take the first step in predicting your own prosperous future. Build a mental picture of exactly how you would like to live. Make a firm decision to hold on to that vision and positive ways to improve everything will begin to flow into your mind. Many people get a beautiful vision of how they would like to live but because they cannot see how they are going to make it all happen, they let the vision go. If they knew how they were going to get it or do it, they would have a plan not a vision. There is no inspiration in a plan but there sure is in a vision. When you get the vision, freeze frame it with a decision and do not worry about how you will do it or where the resources will come from. Charge your decision with enthusiasm; that is important. Refuse to worry about how it will happen.

Advanced Decision Making

We make advanced bookings when we fly somewhere which is quite common. This we make to eliminate any confusion or problems when the time arrives for the journey. We do the same with renting a car, for the same reason. Think of the problems you will eliminate by making many of the decisions you must make well in advance.

Let us consider the decision of a person who is on a diet to release weight. His decision has been made in advance. Now if the person is offered a big slice of chocolate cake, he will never say “It looks good; I wonder if I should take it.” The decision well tempered with discipline has been made in advance.

Make a strong decision not participate in any discussions of why something cannot be done. The only compensation you will ever receive for participating in or giving energy to that type of discussion is something you do not want. It is amazing to find the number of seemingly intelligent people who persist in dragging you into these negative brainstorming sessions. In one breath these people tell you they seriously want to accomplish a particular objective. And, in the next breath, they begin talking about why they cannot. Think of how much more of life they would enjoy by making a decision that they will no longer participate in that type of negative energy.

The humanistic psychologist, Dr. Abraham Maslow who devoted his life to studying self actualized people, stated very clearly that we should follow our inner guide and not be swayed by the opinion of others or outside circumstances. Mallow’s research showed that the decision makers in life had a number of things in common; most importantly, they did work they felt was worthwhile and important. They found work a pleasure, and there was little distinction between work and play. Dr. Maslow said, to be self actualized you must not only be doing work you consider to be important, you must do it well and enjoy it.

Dr. Maslow recorded that these superior performers had values, those qualities in their personalities they considered to be worthwhile and important. Their values were not imposed by society, parents, or other people in their lives. They did make their own decisions. Like their work, they chose and developed their values themselves.

Your life is important and at its best, life is short. You have the potential to do anything you choose, and do it well. But you must make decisions and when the time for a decision arrives, you must make your decision where you are with what you have got.

Here are the words of two greatest decision makers, William James and Thomas Edison. William James suggested that, compared to what we ought to be, we are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources. Stating this concept broadly, the human individual thus lives far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use.

Years later, Thomas Edison said “If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

By making a simple decision you can literally turn your wildest dreams into reality. Put this valuable information to use and recognize the greatness which exists within you. You have limitless resources of potential and ability waiting to be developed. Start today; There is never any time better that the present. Be all that you are capable of being.