International Speaker, Peak Performance Trainer and Business Mentor Arnon Barnes looks at the ‘success equation’.
Have you ever heard people say that in order to be successful, to make it big, it all boils down to making wise decisions? Tony Robbins says: “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” And I agree, partially, with that statement.
Decision making is important, but I believe it to be only half of the ‘success equation’. From my experience decisions are the cornerstone of opportunity. Making a decision, a wise decision is an important part in creating a positive change or improving your life but still just one part.
I believe there to be an additional piece of that puzzle that needs to be acknowledged and focused upon. But before we look at the other important part of this ‘success equation’ puzzle and demystify how successful people think, behave and achieve high levels of success, let’s first look at the ‘decision making process’.
Why are most people (not you of course) rather lousy at the ‘decision making’ process? And, if we take a deeper look, why don’t most people like making big, transformational, life-changing decisions.
To begin with, it’s important to understand that the foundational way of human thinking is based on ‘I don’t like change’. One of the basic human needs is something called ‘certainty’. If you were to look up the definition of certainty in the dictionary this is what you will find: the state of being completely confident or having no doubt about something.
And that already gives us a clue as to why most people don’t like and are not good decision makers. Most people are not confident. Not confident in themselves, in their work, in their body and in what and how they think and do things. This ‘lack of confidence’ creates what I call a ‘weakened state’.
How do we then end up into a weakened state? Some of the reasons might be: past programming from parents, teachers, siblings, friends, religion, culture even an over-powering spouse or an over demanding environment. Even being put under force by somebody at a time in the past can cause a major impact on our current confidence levels. We are left with the sensation of ‘I’m not good enough’. And that is where the weakness begins.
Then from this ‘weakened state’ people start making decisions and, as you can understand, it will unquestionably affect your ability to make wise decisions. Decisions that empower you and ultimately bring you closer to your goals never come from a weakened state.
