What was the best decision you have ever made that changed your life permanently?
A psychologist/friend is fond of saying that “circumstances create decisions”. I remind her often that the reverse is as true: that decisions create circumstances. Perhaps both of us are echoing Stephen R. Covey, the success guru behind Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
I would edit Covey be deleting ‘not’. Cheeky of me, right.
I believe that we all are products of circumstances and decisions — millions of them, most insignificant such as what to have for breakfast, some a bit more significant such as what car or house to buy, and some life-changing such as what career or spouse to choose.
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
None of those decisions are “permanent”, but they can be “life-changing”.
When I changed career from engineering to writing and teaching at age 40 or thereabouts — -a difficult decision that was not universally applauded — many friends and family asked “what happened after you changed”.
“I got happy.”
I also got lucky, big time. I became a writer of corporate gargle when the United States was in the throes of a major economic boom and the big boys of business were hot to tell their stories and retained me to create the proper, persuasive words and pictures. Then I got luckier: I found a handful of clients with big budgets who appreciated my prose and business styles and they fed me assignments. They also became my closest friends.
The round-robin of circumstances create decisions, and decisions create circumstances served me well and continues to do so. I’m a robust 89 and businesses are reluctant to retain me for anything other that an occasional edit, but I still am afflicted with the writing bug. Ergo, instead of writing for business and cash, I write for me and ego, aka books and blogs for appreciative readers. Fun, eh?
