ONE: THE RESPONSIBLE DECISION
The buck stops here. I accept responsibility for my past. I am responsible for my success. I will not let my history
control my destiny.
The Responsible Decision shows us how to stop blaming other people and outside circumstances for
where we are in life. Instead, we can chart our life’s course, allowing our lives to become testaments
to the true power of choice.
Until we accept the responsibility for where we are, we have no basis for moving forward in our
lives. Our choices had made us what we are today. Our thinking creates a pathway to success
or failure. To accept responsibility for our choices includes becoming aware of and accepting
responsibility for our thinking. This clarification gives us the basis for moving on.
TWO: THE GUIDED DECISION
I will seek wisdom. God moves mountains to create the opportunity of His choosing. It is up to me to be ready
to move myself.
The Guided Decision helps us discover invaluable counsel through books, people, and service. We
learn to evaluate the network of influential people in our lives, to seek wisdom from the knowledge
of others, and perhaps most important, to commit to a life of service.
There are three simple things you can do daily to chart your lifelong search for wisdom: read, take
counsel of others, and serve others.
THREE: THE ACTIVE DECISION
I am a person of action. Many people move out of the way for a person on the run; others are caught up in his
wake. I will be that person on the run!
The Active Decision is a wake-up call. Taking consistent action is crucial to the realization of a
successful life. We’re often amazed, even baffled, by the accomplishments of highly successful
people, yet many of their accomplishments occur because of relentless action.
There’s no reason to dwell in the pit of despair over squandered time or lost opportunities. You can’t
do anything about the past. Your future lies before you. When you are faced with the choice to do
nothing or do something, you will always choose to act.
FOUR: THE CERTAIN DECISION
I have a decided heart. Criticism, condemnation, and complaint are creatures of the wind. They come and go on
the wasted breath of lesser beings and have no power over me.
With the Certain Decision, we learn to break through fear and judgement to pursue our dreams with
determination and focus. With a decided heart, we set our course and assure our destiny.
Successful people make their decisions quickly and change their minds slowly. Unsuccessful people
make their decisions slowly and change their minds quickly. Many people spend so much time
analyzing the decisions that they have already made that they don’t have any energy left to actually
do what they decided. We are made with the ability to make a decision and then go about the
business of making it right.
FIVE: THE JOYFUL DECISION
Today I will choose to be happy. My every life is fashioned by choice. First I make choices. Then my choices
make me.
The Joyful Decision is perhaps the most misunderstood of all the Decisions. The Joyful Decision
demonstrates that happiness is a choice, and if you’re not happy right now, it’s a consequence of
your own choosing, not the circumstances of life.
Happiness comes from a grateful heart. Find things to be grateful for and become the possessor of a
grateful spirit. Happy people get more opportunities because opportunities come from people, and
people are attracted by happy people. And obviously, opportunities often translate into financial
success.
SIX: THE COMPASSIONATE DECISION
I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit. I know that God rarely uses a person whose main concern is what
others are thinking.
The Compassionate Decision can heal your heart, mind, and soul. Harbouring anger and resentment
poisons our minds and hinders our ability to live the other six Decisions with any measure of
effectiveness. Forgiveness frees our spirits.
Forgiveness is a decision, not an emotion. When we decided to forgive, our emotions follow along.
Forgive the people who don’t ask for it. Forgive yourself, your act of forgiveness will free you from
unproductive thoughts. Your bitterness, resentment, and anger will be gone.
SEVEN: THE PERSISTENT DECISION
I will persist without exception. Reason can only be stretched so far, but faith has no limits. The only limit to my
realization of tomorrow is the doubt to which I hold fast today.
The Persistent Decision reveals a critical “twist” to the notion of persistence: Persisting “without
exception” is key to achieving extraordinary levels of success in any area of life. When we
consistently make the Persistent Decision, our success is boundless.
Committing to the Persistent Decision means you accept responsibility. You constantly seek wisdom.
You never stop being a person of action. You have a decided heart, without exception. You choose to
be happy every single day. You greet each day with a forgiving spirit. Every single one of the other six
Decisions hinges on your acceptance of the seventh. It’s the one that bring them together.
