I was told early in my career that “God gave me two ends, one to think with and one to sit on, and my success in life would be determined by which one I used the most.” While I found this statement to be quite humorous, it made me think about the reality of its meaning; we all have choices in life and the decisions we make will determine where we go and how successful we become.

My son calls poor decisions “Grill Cheese Decisions” because they can have a lasting effect on your finances, relationships and even your happiness.  Like my son says, “the wrong decisions can cause to you eat grill cheese sandwiches instead of steak for a long time.  Actually, I believe they’re three things that will help determine our future: 1) The people we meet, 2) the books we read and 3) the choices we make.

1. People are important because people can open many doors to great opportunities in our lives and careers. Therefore, it is imperative that we learn how to build and maintain good relationships.
2. The books we read can help build our knowledge base. It takes an author 8 to12 years to gain the experience to write a 200-page book.  If you are an average reader and you read 20 minutes each day you can read 200 20-page books in a year.  Just think of the information and knowledge you can gain from reading.
3. Both, people and books, are extremely important to the third which is the choices we make. Every choice can have a lasting effect on our future, regardless of the type or importance of the choice.

I have learned that every decision I made in the past was extremely important. The decision to get married, join the United States Air Force, move to Florida, and go back to school all proved to be vitally important to my future and the future of my family. However, the small decisions such as where to attend church, what automobile to purchase, what neighborhood to live in, what books to read, what movies to watch, who to create relationships with, or what clothes to wear had long-term effects. Therefore, every decision becomes important to our future.

In the book, The Three Spanish Philosophers, by Jose Ferrater Mora, we’re reminded by Jose Ortega y Gasset that we human beings are the only creatures on the planet that are born with the ability to choose. All the other creatures are born and guided by what we know as instinct, of which they are unaware, and do not have the capacity to question or change. For example, bears hibernate in the winter, salmon swim up-stream, and geese fly south. But you and I, as human creatures, are given the power to create our own future and success. We do exactly that every day of our lives. We put into place actions and ideas that will determine the shape and form of our future.

What decisions will you make in 2018 that can lead you closer to or farther from your goals, and dreams?