Monday Motivation | The difference between making a decision and wishful thinking

Years ago, I worked with a young lady who casually told me that she jogs every morning before work.  She also would bring salads for lunch and lived a relatively healthy lifestyle.  If I had to describe her in a couple of words, I'd say she was active and super fit.  Then, one day, another coworker revealed to me that our ultra-fit colleague once weighed around 300 lbs.

Shocked, was the only word that could describe my reaction.  At the time, I would listen to personal development audiobooks in my office. But here was a living example of transformation right before my eyes.  Immediately I called her into my office, asked her to take a seat, then I inquired about what made her change her life.  She wasn't too detailed. I suspect it was because she didn't want to revisit that time in her life again. But essentially, she told me that she was severely overweight and had terrible habits.  Then she made a new years resolution to change her body.  And she did......

In less than 2 weeks, we'll be entering a new year.  Lots of us will be making resolutions, much like she did. But many of our resolutions won't stick.  Why is that? What did she do differently and how can we learn to transform our lives the way she did?

Before we can answer those questions, we have to make a distinction.  The distinction is this. My coworker made a decision.  She didn't make an "I need to" or "I want to." There's a difference.  Saying "I want to lose weight" is not making a decision.  Getting up to jog regularly is.

Imagine someone is standing in front of you holding two ice cream cones.  One is chocolate ice cream, the other vanilla.  After a little consideration, you opt for the chocolate ice cream.  You've made your decision.

Too often, we think we're making a choice when in actuality, we are still in the decision making process.  "I need to" and "I want to" are still part of the process.  You're still deciding what flavor to choose.  No real decision was actually made.

Because once you decide, that's when things start to shift.  That's when life starts to look different.  Once my coworker decided to alter her health, her actions aligned.  She shifted from taking actions that created her 300 lb body, to actions the made her fit and toned.   Years after she made her decision, she took action to create her reality on a daily basis.  Her decision was firm.

She didn't choose chocolate ice cream but reach out for vanilla.  I know I'm guilty of doing that.  Saying I want something but then my actions directly contradict the words I spoke.  No, my friend aligned her actions fully aligned with what she wanted.  Another thing I'm guilty of doing is holding the chocolate ice cream in my hands, while still trying to take a lick of the vanilla.  My coworker did the exact opposite.  Once she lost her excess weight, she didn't dabble in the actions of her past.  That explains why she rarely choose to indulge in the high fat office snacks.  Once you choose chocolate, you are also making the choice not to have vanilla.  Accept that and move on.

So, here we are at the end of the year.  Looking back, I'm sure many of us are making plans to alter  our results in 2016.  The first place start is in making a real decision.  Then immediately choose the actions that correlate with your decision.  Once that's done, you align your actions daily.  And, before you know it, you get to enjoy the delicious goodness of your ultimate choice.