It is Up to You by Jim Rohn

Posted on December 14, 2011

Hi Everyone…..What a fantastic week I’m having …Just love what I do and do what I love everyday..
I’m so looking forward to 2012 as I have a trip to Bali and Thailand all booked and that is only in the first half of the year..
I have shared another great inspirational article here from my favorite man Jim Rohn ( after my husband of course) ..I know you will enjoy reading it as I have.

Please feel free to share your comments and thoughts..

Cheers Chrissy

P.S….If you are looking to learn more about Jim Rohn then visit this site.

One of the first things successful people realize is the old adage, “if it is to be, it is up to me.” That is, for you, the fact that your success and your course is up to you. This doesn’t mean that you do it all alone. It simply means that you take responsibility for your life and your career.
Too many people today look at opportunity and figure it is up to someone else to make sure they get it. They look at financial security and hope that the government will make sure they live safely in retirement or in case of disability. They wait and wait, figuring that it is up to someone else. And then the wait is over, and it is too late to do anything. Their life is over and they are filled with regret.
This isn’t true for you however. You know that you must take responsibility for your life. It is up to you.
The fact is that nobody else is going to do it for you “you must do it yourself.
Now, some people may say, “Jim, that’s a lot of responsibility.” Friends, that is the best news you can ever hear. You get to choose your life. Hundreds of millions of people all around this world would give anything to live in the situation you do “just for the chance to have the opportunity to take control of their destiny. “It is up to you” is a great blessing!
Here’s why:
1. You get to chart your own destiny. Maybe you want to start a small business and stay there. That’s great because you can choose that. Maybe you want to create a small chain of stores. Maybe you want to have a net worth of $100 million. That’s okay too. The idea is that you get to choose. You can do whatever you like. Different people have different dreams and they should live them accordingly.
2. You can reap what you sow. Sleep in and go to work late and reap the return. Or get up early and outwork the others and earn a greater return. Place your capital at risk and earn a return “or place it at greater risk and perhaps reap a greater return. You decide what you will sow and thus what you will reap.
3. No one else can stop you from getting your dream. Yes, there will always be things that come up and people who may not like what you are doing, but you can just move on and chart your own course. There is great freedom in that.
4. You experience the joy of self-determination. There is no greater pride than knowing you set your mind on something and accomplished it. Those who live with a victim mentality never get to experience the joy of accomplishment because they are always waiting for someone else to come to the rescue. Those who take responsibility get to live the joy of seeing a job well done.
Let me ask you a question: Where will you be in 5 years? 10 years? Or 25 years? Do you know? DO you have an idea? Have you ever dreamed about it or set a goal for it? Are you willing to take responsibility and recognize that, “It is up to you?”
You will be wherever you decide to be in those timeframes. You decide. It is up to you.
And that is very exciting!
— Jim Rohn

Making Good Decisions Better by Dr. John C. Maxwell

Posted on December 5, 2011

Hi Everyone….

I have just come across this article which I loved and I felt the need to share with you these words of wisdom from Dr J C Maxwell.
The below information is all about making good decisions and the process you can follow.

I have found that to get better answers and results I have to ask better questions and then take action.

Do you agree with this process or have you found a better process that works for you when
you are making your decisions.

Cheers Chrissy

Inability to make decisions is one of the principal reasons executives fail. Deficiency in decision-making ranks much higher than lack of specific knowledge or technical know-how as an indicator of leadership failure.

Successful people make the right decisions early and manage them daily. Let’s break down those components by exploring the criteria for making solid decisions and by reinforcing the need to properly manage them day by day.

Making Good Decisions

As a leader, multiple decisions swirl around you and each clamors for time and attention. The first step in successful decision-making is to prioritize the many decisions in front of you. Give yourself time to brainstorm and make a list of each decision you currently face. When you have identified an exhaustive list of decisions, take the following steps to separate the big decisions from the minor ones:

Compare Payoff
Ask yourself, “Which decisions on my list will produce the highest payoff?” Evaluate each in terms of your investment in time, resources, and energy. On a scale of 1 to 3, rate each item on your list as follows:

1 = Most important
2 = Somewhat important
3 = Least important

Consider Your Goals
Ask yourself, “Which decisions are essential to my goals?” To answer this question, you may need to review your primary job responsibilities and remind yourself of the critical success factors driving your performance. Applying the same 1-to-3 scale, rate each decision based on its relevance to your goals.

Delegate
At this point, every item in your log should have two rankings—one for potential payoff and one for alignment with your goals. Add the numbers together. Highlight all entries totaling 2 or 3. These matters clearly require attention.

Focus on the remaining decisions and ask yourself, “Which of these issues must be handled by me and no one else?” More than likely, you’ll determine that many of them can be delegated to others to lighten your load.

Decision Making Traps

Too often, leaders fall into traps causing them to make faulty decisions. They are blind to flaws in their methodology or gaps in their thinking. Here are specific pitfalls that can sabotage your efforts to express yourself wisely and decisively:

Procrastinating
If you dread the finality of taking a stand or calling the shots, you may be tempted to put off the decision. You can fall prey to dozens of avoidance mechanisms to rationalize your unwillingness to decide, including:

Absence of urgency. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Uncertainty. “It could go either way. Since I’m not sure, I’ll reflect on it for a while.”

Emotional difficulty. “It’s a lose-lose proposition, and someone will be hurt regardless of the decision. Why not postpone the damage as long as possible?”

If any of these comments sound familiar, your challenge is to condense the time frame in which you make your decision. Although you may successfully con yourself into believing that “it can wait,” a cloud of worry will drift over you until you take the initiative to remove it.

Surrendering
Exceptionally hard decisions can deplete your energy to the point at which you finally cave in. If you mentally crumble and degenerate into negative thinking, you’ll magnify the problem to the point where it can haunt you.

Rather than surrender, break a big decision into its components. Isolate particular aspects of the issue, and address the segments bit by bit.

Hiding Behind Information
Many managers with exacting standards tend to crave unending stacks of data before rendering a decision. The more facts and figures they accumulate, the more they require before feeling ready to decide. Be willing to forge ahead when the results of the decision will be positive—even if they won’t be perfect.

The DNA of Good Decision-Making

Evidence—Specific facts that can be independently verified.

Search for new information or insight which may affect the decision.

Probe the basis of your belief. We make decisions based upon our assumptions, but those assumptions are oftentimes at variance with reality.

Take a hard look at your areas of expertise, and honestly assess the boundaries of your knowledge. Watch for overconfidence in yourself and others when you venture outside those limits.

Test your opinions by looking for information that challenges your beliefs rather than looking for information that supports your opinions.

Observation—Direct experience or understanding of an issue.

Conceptualize. Before deciding, picture the expected outcomes of your decision and mentally track the ramifications of your chosen course of action.

Search for examples. Locate organizations that have faced a similar decision. Evaluate their experiences to better prepare for your own decision.

Do a test-run. When time allows, launch and assess a pilot project before fully committing yourself.
Feedback—Impressions gleaned from asking others for input about a decision.

The most effective decisions flow from your ability to ask the right person the right question at the right time.

As long as you know where to search for the relevant information, and can verify the accuracy of what you learn, you will be well-positioned to see all sides of an issue and make a sensible judgment.

Managing Good Decisions

The first ingredient of success—making good decisions—has no real value without the second, which is practicing daily discipline. Look at our society. Everyone wants to be thin, but nobody wants to diet. Everyone wants to live long, but few will exercise. Everybody wants money, yet seldom will anyone budget or control their spending.

Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful. What we fail to understand is that there are two kinds of pain: the pain of self-discipline and the pain of regret. We avoid the pain of self-discipline because we confront it every day. Meanwhile, the pain of regret goes unnoticed for days, months, and years, but when it comes, it marks us with the profoundest disappointment.

Successful people conquer their feelings of instant gratification and form habits of daily discipline. They realize that the pain of self-discipline is momentary, while its payoff yields long-lasting rewards.

Good Decisions – Daily Discipline = A Plan without a Payoff
Daily Discipline – Good Decisions = Regimentation without Reward
Good Decisions + Daily Discipline = A Masterpiece of Potential