The Decisive Moment

It happens all the time; most people don’t even realise that the moment has arrived, and eventually passed by. This decisive moment could turn out to be the difference between being massively successful in your endeavours, or being a shadow of what you could have always been (hint: the butterfly effect is true).

What moment are we talking about?

In our everyday lives, we come across really common day-to-day situations where we make micro-decisions about our course of action to handle these situations. An example of this situation would be when you feel hungry, and choose to go out and have fast-food, instead of cook something healthy at home. Another example would be when you look at yourself in the mirror, and wish to do something about your fitness level, but decide not to act on it. I could go on and on with these examples, but you get the point.

What if I say each one of these moments decides how your future is going to turn out?

This essay is supported by Generatebg

What’s special about this decisive moment?

A wealthy life (in terms of money, health, relationships, spirituality, etc.) is achieved when one consistently takes the tough decision in each and every moment of his life to choose a course of action that alligns itself with a wealthy lifestyle. Now notice the adjective “tough”. That’s because this decision is usually the tougher one. It’s easy to take the easier option (be it fast-food, or chill on your couch), and our genes drive us to take the path of least resistance. However, in this context, defying our genes has massive benefits.

If we define success as the achievement of a wealthy life, and failure as the inability to lead a wealthy life, then success is the accummulation of innumerable tough decisions in the direction of a wealthy life, taken on a daily, minute-by-minute basis. Consequently, failure is is the accummulation of innumerable easy decisions in the direction away from a wealthy life, taken on a daily, minute-by-minute basis.

When one understands this construct, it is also quite enlightening to appreciate the value of each one of these moments. The moment you have now is not to be underestimated.

Winners win, losers lose!

A person who is on a streak of making the tough, correct decisions is likely to keep making them, and a person who is on a streak of making the wrong, incorrect decisions is likely to keep making them. This is why people who seem to be doing well in life, tend to keep doing well. This is also why a sportsman is likely to be feared by his opposition when is “on form”. It’s either a spiral-up or a spiral-down. Which side of the spiral do you want to be on?

Living in the present!

One way of giving yourself the best chance of spiralling-up is to actively be conscious about your present, where you actively observe yourself. You observe your actions without judging them, as a first step. Before long, you’re likely to note what’s going on, and see a pattern. And not long after that, you’re likely to instinctively want to change the course of action in the direction of your greater cause. In psychology, this concept is called “mindfullness”. The day you stop being mindful of your actions is when you’re likely to spiral-down (again?). So mindfulness is one of the precious tools to also sustain a wealthy lifestyle.

The Road Not Taken

As a child, a special poem called “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost really touched me deeply, and I find it fitting to quote this gem to round-up this wonderful topic. I reach across the time, and the space that separates us, to wish you all the best!

I hope you found this article interesting and useful. If you’d like to get notified when interesting content gets published here, consider subscribing.