Year Of Big Decisions

What am I doing?
What am I doing?
Oh yeah, that’s right, I’m doin’ me, I’m doin’ me
I’m living life right now, man, and this what I’mma do ’til it’s over

Til it’s over
But it’s far from over -Drake, song “Over”

“If you obsess over whether you are making the right decision, you are basically assuming that the universe will reward you for one thing and punish you for another. The universe has no fixed agenda. Once you make any decision, it works around that decision. There is no right or wrong, only a series of possibilities that shift with each thought, feeling, and action that you experience. If this sounds too mystical, refer again to the body. Every significant vital sign- body temperature, heart rate, oxygen consumption, hormone level, brain activity, and so on- alters the moment you decide to do anything… decisions are signals telling your body, mind, and environment to move in a certain direction.” -Deepak Chopra, The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life

“In the space between yes and no, there is a lifetime. It’s the difference between the path you walk and one you leave behind; it’s the gap between who you thought you could be and who you really are; it’s the legroom for the lies you will tell yourself in the future.” -Jodi Picoult, Change of Heart

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” -Steve Jobs

“Hard decisions are only hard when you’re in the process of making them.” -Debbie Milman

“In most of our decisions, we are not betting against another person. Rather, we are betting against all the future versions of ourselves that we are not choosing.”  -Annie Duke, book Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts

“WHAT I’M TELLING YOU IS, IF YOU WANT TO DO THINGS YOUR OWN WAY, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION – YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO FIND A LITTLE COURAGE.” -Owen Meany’s advice to John Wheelwright in John Irving’s novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany

A popular new years intention is to make it the “year of big things.”

I love the energy behind it and even use the phrase myself, but it’s problematic at its core. The “year of big things” assumes external factors going our way. Things we can’t necessarily control.

Instead, what if we make 2023 the “year of big decisions”?

All those decisions we’ve been putting off or afraid to make…let us decide NOW. and decide OFTEN. Decision-making is a skill. The more we do it, the better we get at it.

Decide what to do. How to spend our time. Where to focus. What to consume. What to add. What to drop. Who we want to be.

Then after deciding, let’s take massive and consistent action.

(Chances are, the big things will follow.)