The power of decision

By Tope Popoola

YOU have probably heard people say that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. I beg to differ. The journey actually begins with the decision to travel. The first step cannot be taken without it. One of the key ingredients in building wealth is decision.

Decisions are powerful. Every station in life is a product of a decision. We first make our decisions and our decisions turn round to make us. It has been said that a person makes thousands of decisions daily. From when we get up in the morning to the time we go to bed, our day is a series of decisions. Who to marry. Who to do business with. Where to live. What school to attend. What to study. What kind of business to do. What and when to eat, etc. It follows therefore that one critical element that distinguishes successful people from failures is the quality of decisions they took – or did not take – at certain critical moments in their lives.

Every successful marketer knows the power of decisions. A successful sale is a product of two decisions, the decision to market and the decision to buy. A happy and enduring marriage is so because both parties took and stuck by the decision that divorce is not an option. All worthwhile relationships are products of decisions.

As a matter of fact, the refusal to take a decision is a decision on its own. Like many other people, I have lost many opportunities in life because of some decisions I did not take at all or didn’t take at the appropriate time. It’s an expensive experience.

In a study that analyzed the lives of 25,000 people who had experienced varying degrees of failure, it was discovered that the failure to take decisions when necessary was one of the major reasons for their failure. According to Napoleon Hill, “Analysis of several hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond the million dollar mark, disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of reaching decisions promptly, and of changing these decisions slowly, if, and when they were changed. People who fail to accumulate money, without exception, have the habit of reaching decisions, if at all, very slowly, and of changing these decisions quickly and often.”

It is therefore not just enough to take the appropriate decisions, it is important to take them at the appropriate time. However, in spite of the primacy of decisions in determining the quality of one’s life, it goes without saying that many people find it difficult to take decisions. The first reason people do not take decisions is procrastination. Procrastinators are never decisive. The decision to stop postponing action on key issues of life is one of the most powerful decisions a person can take. Every time you put what needs to be done now till a future time, you actually mortgage the future.

Secondly, people fail to take decisions because of fear of the outcome of the decision. What if things do not work out as expected? What if I lose out? What if…? In reality, the fear of failure is actually the fear of success!
People sometimes refuse to take decisions because of people’s opinion.

Who runs your life? The media? TV? Movies? Neighbours? Friends? In an uncharitable drive for acceptance and approval, many of us are never bold enough to acknowledge, affirm and actually project our uniqueness. Unfortunately, even in death, you cannot stop people from holding their own views. Have you ever attended a funeral where there was no ostentation on display and all the deceased was buried in was a simple coffin? Did you keep your ears on the ground to hear people complain about how little they had to eat and how there were not enough drinks to serve everybody? Conversely, have you attended one that is the exact opposite and listened as people complained about why anyone would want to spend so much money on a dead person?

The cheapest commodities on earth are opinions. And anyone will unleash theirs on you if you are willing to accept them. Unfortunately, if your life is constantly influenced by what other people think, you cannot ever have desires of your own. As long as you have no personal desires, there is no raw material for producing wealth.

Today, sit down and itemize certain issues over which you need to take concrete decisions. Go ahead and begin to take those decisions. Even if your decisions do not all turn out right, you cannot be accused of doing nothing.

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!