What Are You One Choice Away From?

Walt Disney tried and failed several times to build an animated film business before moving to Hollywood in 1923. Inspired by the developments in the film industry taking place at that time he decided to try one last time, there was one problem though, he had no money. Walt asked his brother and uncle to invest in his business. His brother invested $285 and became an equal partner while his Uncle Robert chose to lend him $500 requesting that the loan be repaid with interest. One single choice made Roy Disney one of the richest men in Hollywood, whilst Walt’s Uncle Robert’s choice cost him and his heirs billions of dollars.

There are many who put good fortune such as this down to luck, but I don’t believe in luck. Success in life results from the multitude of small choices we make on a daily basis which prepare us for the bigger opportunities.

My parents gave me my first Pollyanna book when I was 8 and without being consciously aware of it I made the choice at that age to be an optimist. That choice was reinforced time and time again as I read and re-read the whole series of Pollyanna books (which I still have today). Not only did the Pollyanna books inspire me to be an optimist they inspired me to read. Those two choices led to my love of personal development books and the commitment to reading that I have today. Reading is one of life’s great pleasures for me.

The choice to be an optimist is one that helps me pick myself up whenever something doesn’t work out, or when life simply gets too hard. It helped me when I experienced financial difficulties because rather than giving up, like many people do, I went looking for solutions which led to my creating another successful business.

Every day we make choices and every choice has an impact on your future. If you spend:nnall of your time looking after other people and never take any time for yourself, it’s most likely you will end up feeling resentful, and that emotion will have a negative impact on your finances and possibly your relationships. n nyour time gossiping, talking negatively or worrying, you are creating a tomorrow that includes all of the things that you don’t want. nnspend everything you earn today, you won’t have enough money for the bigger things in life you want.

I read an article in Oprah magazine recently by Suzy Welch, co-author of Winning. In this article Suzy talks about her 10-10-10 approach to making choices. Every time Suzy finds it difficult to make a choice she asks herself, “What will the consequence of my decision be in 10 minutes? In 10 months? In 10 years?”. Now that’s something really worth thinking about it.

Just imagine applying the 10-10-10 rule to two choices you make today. If you have a tendency to gossip or talk negatively what would happen in 10 minutes if you stopped doing this? Not much at all except that you would feel good about yourself, but just imagine what impact that choice would have on your life in 10 months and 10 years. It could be enormous. Now imagine that instead of spending the way you usually do today, and that includes credit card spending as well as cash, that you made the choice to only spend on essential items and save the rest. If you added up all the money you spend on incidentals, which often aren’t really important to you, you could have enough money for a holiday in 10 months and this could definitely have a positive benefit. Or, if you chose simply to save your money and you could easily be $50,000 better off in 10 years. This figure excludes any additional gains you could make by investing this money.

You can apply this rule to what you eat, who you spend time with, how you think, in fact to every area of your life. Remember this. It’s the little choices that you make on a daily basis that establish the habits which support you during good times and bad. You could be one choice away from misery and struggle, or one choice away from happiness and abundance. It’s always your choice.