The 10% Factor In Decisions

When I was a kid growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, I didn’t really understand that the decisions I made had any consequences. You got up, went to school, played with your friends, did your chores, and life went on.

It never occurred to me that I had a choice about whether it was important to do well in school (it was), that I would have an entirely different set of friends if we lived in a different neighborhood, or that I could disobey my parent and choose not to do my chores.

I didn’t realize the life I had was a result of the decisions I made and the decisions my parents made on my behalf. I didn’t understand how often choices were made in life and how important each and every one could be.

I now know that we are always just one decision away from a different outcome.

• Should I go back to school to finish that degree?
• Should I binge watch another Netflix series or should I work on my side hustle?
• Should I get to bed early so I have the energy to wake up and workout like I planned?

Every time we make a decision, we are at the proverbial fork in the road.

Every time we have a choice, we get to decide how to play it.

That is the most important point in any discussion about decisions—how you play it is up to you.

I have come to understand that 10 percent of life is what happens to you and 90 percent of life is how you choose to react to it.

It’s your decision: What is the rest of your day going to be like?

What about the rest of your life? You get to decide.