How to Make Life Work For You

Home	02 The Second Greatest Secret	03 Principles of Success	04 Dreams and Goals	05 Decisions	06 Count the Cost
07 The Plan	08 Right Thinking	09 Subconscious	10 Training	11 Affirmations	12 Attitude
13 Mentor	14 Associations	15 Vehicle	16 Persistence	17 The Sage and the Fool	18 Secrets of Having a Job

Decisions

Decisions come first.

Nothing happens without a decision being made first. You cannot write down your goals unless you decide to write down your goals. You may not know clearly what they are yet, so you write them down that you may see what they are. Some of them may surprise you. The Decision to Succeed comes before Success, even before you know what success is and how you're going to do it. You make a flat decision, "Regardless of what it is or what it takes, I'm going to do it and get it." You cannot succeed in life unless you decide to succeed first.

First you decide that you're going to achieve your goal, before you're even able to achieve it. You decide first that you're going to become a millionaire in the next five years. You decide first that you're going to be debt free. You decide first that you're going to college. You decide first that you're going to go pay off your parent's house for them. You decide first that you will write the book you have hidden in your heart. You decide that you will do what you want to do, that you will achieve your goals in life. The decision will come first, must come first. How you're going to get a million dollars is irrelevant at this point. "How" will take care of itself later. If you don't decide to get a million dollars, then you won't get it. Period. So if you're not going to get it, why should you know how to get it? The decision is made first, without regard to how it's going to be accomplished.

I'm telling you the truth, if you think you must know how to achieve your goal before you decide to achieve it, then you will never achieve it.

The decision to succeed is indispensable, and it comes first.

Decisions Are Permanent and Fixed.

When you decide to succeed, to accomplish your goals, they must be fixed. When you make a decision, it is not a negotiating type of decision. It is, "This is it. Period. Done." Allow no possibility of another outcome. You're going to do it, and that's the end of the discussion. Don't say, "I'll try it and see if it works." If you allow for another outcome, you'll get another outcome. If you wrongly estimate how long it will take, if you guess at six months, but it really takes nine months, then you will stop short of your goal. There is no stopping. The decision to do it is made regardless of time or cost; you'll do it until you get it.

Go now to Count the Cost.