The Question Is: Will You Make It?
Last week we discussed my “aha” moment when I was recovering from a concussion. This revelation involved reading The Traveler’s Gift, a book written by Andy Andrews.
In the book, David Ponder felt like a failure at forty-six years old. He had lost his job as an executive at a Fortune 500 company. Then he lost his part-time job working at a hardware store.
He felt like a failure!
Until he had an extraordinary experience that revealed the power of decisions to succeed in business and life.
Before my accident I was at a place in my life that was nothing like what I had expected it to be. I had some big dreams when I was younger. I was going to be farming thousands of acres. Own a successful construction company. Have a nice, big, new home. Be driving new cars and trucks.
Then, thirty-five years later, none of these things had happened. I did own a construction company, but it wasn’t anything more than a minimum wage job. I had conceded that this was the life I had and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
I had accepted the fact that I was a failure.
Then came the accident. I believe it was God’s way of getting my attention and telling me that things could be different. I really connected with David Ponder’s situation in The Traveler’s Gift.
I was where he had been. He took the lessons learned in his journey through time and the people he met and implemented them in his life. He had the power of choice, and he used it.
Here is an overview of the seven things he was shown and implemented that changed his life:
THE SEVEN DECISIONS
1. The Responsible Decision
I accept responsibility for my past. I control my thoughts. I control my emotions. I am responsible for my success.
“THE BUCK STOPS HERE.”
“If decisions are choices…and our thinking dictates our decisions – then we are where we are because of our thinking.”
President Harry S. Truman
2. The Guided Decision
I will be a servant to others. I will listen to the council of wise men. I will choose my friends with care.
“I WILL SEEK WISDOM.”
“God moves mountains to create the opportunity of His choosing. It is up to you to be ready to move yourself.”
King Solomon
3. The Active Decision
I am courageous. I am a leader. I seize this moment. I choose now.
“I AM A PERSON OF ACTION.”
“My future is immediate. I will grasp it with both hands and carry it with running feet. When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act!”
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
4. The Certain Decision
I will not wait. I am passionate about my vision for the future. My course has been charted. My destiny is assured.
“I HAVE A DECIDED HEART.”
“Truth is truth. If a thousand people believe something foolish, it is still foolish! Truth is never dependent upon consensus of opinion. I have found that is better to be alone and acting upon the truth in my heart than to follow a gaggle of silly geese doomed to mediocrity.”
Christopher Columbus
5. The Joyful Decision
I will greet each day with laughter. I will smile at every person I meet. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.
“TODAY I WILL CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY.”
“Our very lives are fashioned by our choices. First we make choices. Then our choices make us.”
Anne Frank
6. The Compassionate Decision
I will forgive even those who do not ask for forgiveness. I will forgive those who criticize me unjustly. I will forgive myself.
“I WILL GREET THIS DAY WITH A FORGIVING SPIRIT.”
“Forgiveness is a secret that is hidden in plain sight. It costs nothing and is worth millions. It is available to everyone and used by few. If you harness the power of forgiveness, you will be sought after and regarded highly. And not coincidentally, you will also be forgiven by others!”
Abraham Lincoln
7. The Persistent Decision
I will continue despite exhaustion. I focus on results. I am a person of great faith.
“I WILL PERSIST WITHOUT EXCEPTION.”
“Great leaders – great achievers – are rarely realistic by other people’s standards. Somehow, these successful people, often considered strange, pick their way through life ignoring or not hearing negative expectations and emotions. Consequently, they accomplish one great thing after another, never having heard that something cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing!”
Archangel Gabriel
The experience David has on his travels helped him to connect with and understand these decisions. The same thing happened to me as I read the book.
I realized that I had the power of choice. I could make decisions.
Decisions are something that we too often reject or ignore. We let other people or situations make decisions for us. Then we find ourselves stuck in a rut, thinking there’s no way out.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We have the power of choice. We can make the decisions if we choose to make them. But we have to make them. This is where success starts. The question is…are you going to make them?