How Do You Make Decisions In Your Life?

People often comment on how full of life and enthusiastic I am and say that they wish they had this much energy.  When I reflect on what contributes to my energy, enthusiasm and general positivity toward life, I believe that part of it is having clearly defined values in my life that I use to guide my decisions and actions. My guiding principles are Joy, Connection, Excellence, Sustainability and I’ll expand on each of these below.

Joy

I strive to experience joy every day in my life. For me joy is critical to living a fulfilled life. Everything in this world is made up of energy and energy carries with it a frequency.  Joy is a high vibrational feeling and personally, I want as much of that as I can have in my life and I want for everyone on this planet to have more of it also. So, when I am contemplating a decision around something in my life – what I buy, what I do, the experiences I have, how I spend my free time, the people I surround myself with, the things that I eat, for instance, I weigh it against the question, “Will this [activity, person, food, experience …] bring me joy?”   

Connection

As humans we are social beings and to thrive, we need connection with others. We are one of the few species who have babies who cannot fend for themselves shortly after birth. We keep our children safe, sheltered and fed for many years. So for me, creating community, tribe and teams is critical.  Further, I believe that we are all deserving, and that we can all be successful, live and thrive on this planet together. That we can all win. That there is room at the top for everyone and that we need to support each other and help raise each other up. So, when I’m making a decision in life, I ask “Will this create connection or community? Will it help us all thrive?”

Excellence

Excellence for me is about doing the best that I can in every situation that I can. It’s about continuous learning every day and when I learn a better way, then I implement and do that better thing going forward. Each day I strive to be a better version of me. Excellence is about forgiving myself when I try to be perfect and embracing that I am perfectly imperfect – we all are.

Excellence is about getting results, helping people transform their lives so that they can live the best life of their design and be free from the blocks, beliefs and programming that are holding them back. 

Excellence is about striving for positive impact, big or small, with everyone I interact with; striving to having a positive impact on the planet. I believe there’s always a winning solution to every problem, you just have to find the way and try it. In the words of my Alma Mater, Tentanda Via “the way must be tried’.  I ask myself regularly “Am I choosing excellence?” “Does this align with my vision of excellence?”

 Sustainability

Sustainability for me is about caring for the planet and everyone and everything that calls it home. As we are all connected, we will ultimately sink or swim together. We are in a tumultuous time right now, we are destroying our planet at an accelerated rate, it’s estimated that 200-2000 species are going extinct each year. We’re are polluting our planet with toxins and chemicals that are killing the soil and us. There are people who don’t have basic needs being met like clean water, food, shelter or medical aid. People who don’t get paid a fair wage to work. People, this isn’t acceptable. This has to change. I want for all of us to thrive and that includes the planet we call home. When I’m making decisions, I ask “is this sustainable? Is it part of the solution or contributing to the problem? Does this support a thriving planet?”

But Don’t These Conflict Sometimes?!

I suspect that some of you are thinking that this is unrealistic and that how can I live consistently and coherently. Sometimes don’t you get conflicting answers when considering your values together?

To that I would have to answer, sure. But the purpose isn’t to be perfect. I’m not going to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water. What having documented values means to me, is that I have made a choice to live and be a certain way. I consciously weigh the decisions in my life against them and I consciously choose what I’m going to do and how I’m going to respond.  I live an intentional life, not one that is based on my living on autopilot and letting the patterns and beliefs that make up my subconscious mind make the choice for me. Does that mean that potentially I come up against hard decisions? Absolutely, and I will make the best decision I can with the information I have and when I have new information, I’ll be able to make a better decision.

Today, I invite you to look at how you make decisions in your life?