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| Smiling Buddah cafe |
At this very moment, I am sitting in a beautiful
cafe called Smiling Buddah, tucked back in an alcove of a pristine beach in east Bali, sipping a cup
of herbal tea and eating a local organic dish made from the leaf of the blingbing
tree, watching the sun glisten off the waves as they come crashing to the
shore. Interestingly, this is the same cafe Elizabeth Gilbert stayed at
while she wrote her book, "Eat, Pray, Love." It is with this sense of
peace, relaxation, and connection with nature that I am composed to write the
next step in mastering the art of living called decisiveness. I would argue that
decisiveness is one of the most powerful tools that any individual can do to
not only creating a life of abundance, wealth, and success, but also a life of
peace, harmony, and fulfillment.
You see, every moment of everyday of our life we
make choices whether we are aware of these choices or not. Many of our
choices are made subconsciously based on the programming that has been imbedded
in our mind and very few of our choices are made consciously. And
unfortunately, many of the choices we make are based on fear and a lack mindset.
When we become conscious of our choices, and we make them with more
regularity and more powerfully, we begin to manifest a life we would love. Let
me give you an example of a decision made consciously and powerfully. I
remember when I was a kid, all I wanted more than anything was to drive. I
didn't know how much money I needed or what I needed to study but I was willing
to do whatever it took to be able to drive. There wasn't even a doubt in
my mind. I sacrificed going out on Saturday nights with friends so I
could work. I woke up on Sunday and mowed lawns and pulled weeds in
neighbors' lawns for years to save money for a car. I didn't know if I
would be able to afford car insurance or gas, but I also knew it didn't matter
because I was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen. I made a
decision and there was no looking back. Think about a time in your life
when you bought your first car, first house, or had your first child. There was
probably some sense of doubt behind your ability to be able to afford it, but
your conviction far exceeded your doubt.
Now at this this point many people are wondering,
"But what if I made a wrong decision? What if a make a decision and things
don't work out?" Then what I would do is give up and go back to
living your life as a victim because you are the only one who makes decisions
that don't work out. I'm kidding! We all make decisions that don't work out! I
have made more decisions that didn't work out than I would ever care to count.
These have resulted in failed relationships, investments, and injuries from
exercise, some of which I am still working on to this very day. But do you
want to know something all the people with the most amazing and successful
lives know yet the majority of the population doesn't? The more decisions you
make, the more you learn from those decisions whether or not it worked out, and
then the fastest you make the next more powerful decision based on what you
learned from the previous decisions, the more growth and joy you will
experience in your life. This is a lesson I am still learning. Most
people either do one of two things, they either make no decisions due to fear,
or they make a decision that doesn't work out and they give up. If you
want more peace; if you want more love; if you want more abundance, it is all
within your reach. You just have to decide you are going to keep deciding
until. That is it... Until. Not until you get tired. Not
until your feelings are hurt. Not until you feel beat up and annoyed. You
do it until. You do it until you have the relationship of your dreams and
you continue to make powerful choices to make it even better. You do it
until you have the career of your dreams and you continue to make powerful
choices until it is better. You do it until you have created an amazing
life and you continue to make powerful choices. Why? Because that's what
successful people do.
I spoke earlier about a bad decision I made
resulting in a failed investment. Allow me to expand on that story. I was 22
years old and worked most of my life at minimum wage jobs to save money for
that car I wanted. After I purchased that car, I continued to work
weekends, after school, and summers, and over the next 6 years, I saved up
quite a bit of money. It was my first year in chiropractic school and I
had an amazing investment opportunity open up for me. I didn't really know much
about the investment, but it seemed like a great way to earn a substantial
return on my money. I literally put just about all of the money I had
saved into this one investment, which in hindsight was probably not the best idea.
Fast forward a few years, the bottom dropped out of the economy and the
entire project went bankrupt. We
lost all of our money. Was this painful? Yes. But was it also a powerful
and transformation experience for me? Absolutely. I learned more about
that "loss" than I ever could have gained financially if it worked
out. I've made much better decisions since then about what to do with my
resources, time, and energy than I would never have been able to learn
otherwise. And does this mean I will never make a bad decision again? Probably
not! But you know what? I will learn from that one too!
Listen, life is not all about strawberry fields,
daisies, and cute little bunnies. Life is like a rose. It is inevitable
that along the way you are going to get pricked, poked, and bleed, but if you
keep going and not let that slow you down, you will experience the peace, joy,
beauty, and amazing scent that only a rose can provide. Decide what you
want your life to stand for. Decide who you want to be and what you want
to create, and do not let anyone tell you your dreams aren't possible. Don't
let anyone take your dreams away from you. Do you want that fairytale
relationship? Go make it happen. Do you want to travel around the world?
Go for it. Do you want that dream home or more of a sense of peace? I
can't wait to see you create that. Just make decision on want you want
and keep going at it until it is exactly the way you want it. Just like a
child who would never giving up on her journey to learn to walk, may us all
have the fortitude, unwavering determination, and decisiveness to apply that
mentality to all areas of our life. That would truly be a life worth
living for.
Love,
Matt
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