How Internet Marketing Wizard Mike Filsaime Stuffed Up Big Time © Gideon Shalwick

I’ve heard it said some time ago that your life, as it is now, is simply a result of all the decisions you’ve made in the past.

The first time I heard that, and fully understood it, I was a little bit shocked. When I heard it way back then, my life kinda sucked anyway, and it was really hard for me to acknowledge that I’ve made some pretty bad decisions leading up to that particular point in time. Gladly, that was a bit of a wake up call, because ever since then, I’ve been paying careful attention to the decisions that I make on a daily basis – and with some amazing results too!

Napoleon Hill, the godfather of the personal development industry also talked about the importance of making decisions. He basically said that all successful people had the following trait in common:

They would make decisions quickly and change them slowly.

On the other hand, unsuccessful and poor people all had the following trait in common:

They would make decisions slowly and change them quickly.

When I read that for the first time a number of years ago, it really was an eye opener. Up to that point it was really hard for me to make decisions, and I would readily change them without even thinking about it twice. The culmination of making bad decisions and then also chopping and changing them all the time was a great recipe for disaster.

In today’s video, Mike talks about how fortunate he was about the decisions that he’s made in the past. Even though he’s made some bad decisions, none of them ruined him. But the real lesson from Mike is that he kept on going, corrected whatever he stuffed up, and still made a success out of it in the long term.

Making a decision can be difficult.

And of course some decisions are harder than others. But what it really comes down to is taking some risks – that is, calculated risks. Any decision has a measure of risk associated with it. And normally, the more important the decision, the greater the risk also, it seems.

For example, let’s say you’ve fallen in love with two beautiful woman, but you’re in a culture where you can only choose ONE to get married to. It’s a pretty big decision that carries a pretty high risk as well. I mean, what if you chose the wrong person for a wife? That could screw you up for life, or at least for a good chunk of your life!

SO, decisions are inherently difficult to make. But the reality is that nothing will happen if you don’t make the decision – whatever it is.

Think about it.

The longer you take to make a decision, the longer it will take you to actually take action on whatever you are deciding on. Putting off a decision is no different than procrastination. In fact, that is probably the cause of procrastination.

I really love the quote from Goethe, the famous German philosopher, who once said this about commitment (which is nothing other than making a decision quickly and sticking with it):

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

The other neat thing about making decisions quickly is that it allows you to learn really FAST!

Just imagine…the more decisions you can make in a day, the more practice you can get at making decisions.  And the great thing about decisions is that you can actually make the wrong decision and learn to make a better decision in the future. But you won’t know that until you’ve actually made the decision itself.

So, the more you make decisions, the more mistakes you’ll make, and the faster you’ll learn to make better decisions (bad decisions equals pain, and the human mind abhors pain). So, your mind remembers bad experiences from bad decisions and then helps you to make better decisions in the future. But this won’t happen if you never take the plunge to actually make the decision and to follow it through to its conclusion.

It’s worked for the richest and most successful people on the planet. Why on earth would it not work for you?

So, start today by making decisions fast, and changing them slowly. Start with the smaller decisions, and build your way up to the bigger ones. As you progress, you’ll gain confidence and start making much MUCH better and faster decisions in the future.

Here’s to your decisive decisions!

Gideon Shalwick