Financial Literacy

Want to predict whether someone’s life will be more toward a path of achievements or mis-steps? A large portion of that can be determined by analyzing how they make decisions. People only have a few ways to make decisions and we use these to make every decision in our life. Some decision-making tactics that we use are effective, and others, much less so. Here is a little self-evaluation questionnaire for your decision-making:

a) Do you need more time than others to:

• Select from the menu at a restaurant?
• Select furniture or a car to purchase?
• Choose a name for a pet?
• Decide where to go for a vacation?

b) In general, do you quickly sour on:

• Jobs, career tracks, friends, relationships, living situations – so you soon flit to the next one?

c) Do you find yourself with more regrets than the average person?

• Making poor choices
• Leaving situations far too soon or far too late

d) Do you struggle to stay-the-course with your long-term goals?

In my opinion, people experiencing these traits are living the side-effects of poor decision-making strategies. Our decision-making is automatic and mostly unconscious, but effects how we move through life. (If you’re interested in improving your decision-making strategies, I suggest finding an expert in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) specializing in this area. Changing how you go about making decisions requires dissecting how you make them now, and then determining if there are more optimal improvements that you could incorporate and turn into a habit. The biggest change for most people is incorporating long-term consequences up front – before any choice is made).

Some very successful people that I know have decision-making unlike the traits from the list above. For example, they:

• Perform far more research than others before making important decisions
• Always think about the very long term
• Never look back, let alone ruminate about past what-ifs
• Do NOT want advice from others (unless he or she is a proven expert)
• Make decisions very quickly and then act immediately, moving forward

Richard Branson has launched dozens of companies and has a net worth over $5 billion. He says, “You have to be relentless in order for luck to visit you. Those who play it safe do not get lucky.”

Lucius Annaeus Senaca, “Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.”

Louis Pasteur, “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Benjamin Franklin, “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”

Thomas Jefferson, “I’m a great believer in luck. I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”

Emily Dickenson, “Luck is not chance, it is toil. Fortune’s expensive smile is earned.”

Ray Kroc, “Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.”

Brian Tracy, “I’ve found that luck is predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.”

Multi-millionaire success coach and author, Steve Siebold, says it simplest “There are two steps to success. Set a goal, and then persist until you succeed.”

Where, exactly, are you creating your own luck?