As we speed through each day, we are faced with a host of decisions. Do I wear orange or blue today? Do I go for a run or sleep a little longer? Do I have 2 cups of coffee or just 1.
photo by flavioricci
Decisions are like granules of sand. Many, many, small decisions make up the span of our lives just as they do a beach.
Granules are tiny and it is easy to not see them as part of the whole expanse of beach. In fact, when you look out over a beach, you don’t see each granule individually, you only see the beach.
So it is with our little everyday decisions. They are the major deciding factor in where we end up in life.
Do we take the time to meet new people or just stay home? Do we read the book a friend recommended or watch tv? Do we do the 20 push ups each morning or sleep in a little longer? Do we eat the apple or the chocolate bar, spend an hour with our spouse or an hour on Facebook? Choose to speak or remain quiet, help the man on the corner or pass by?
A chain of events starting with one small decision:
Three years ago, Michael and I had just bought our house and were experiencing a great amount of confusion and disappointment with life. We had no goals, no vision, and were scuffing along doing “just fine.”
One day driving to work, instead of turning on sports radio as he usually did at the time, Michael decided to turn a different radio station on. The programing was by Focus on the Family. That particular day they were talking about a book pertaining to marriage.
Michael was so moved by the talk, he decided to buy the book for us to read together. It moved us both. We started listening to Focus on the Family podcasts and would find ourselves discussing them often.
On one of the podcasts we heard was an interview with Dave Ramsey. They talked about his book, The Total Money Makeover. Our jaws dropped. We immediately bought his book and started listening to his podcasts.
Through Dave Ramsey, we heard about Dan Miller and his book, 48 Days To The work You Love. We bought it, let it radically change our lives, and began listening to his podcast.
I think you can see where I am going here.
Through Dan Miller, we heard about Kevin Miller and his school Free Agent Academy. Michael joined the school for a period of time which propelled us down the entrepreneurial road we are now on.
This all started with one split second decision years ago. A grain-of-sand decision to choose one radio station over another. Michael had no idea how it would prove to change the course of our lives. None of us do. But knowing those little decisions have such potential now drives us.
We now have a healthy admiration and respect for the little things.
We now act quickly on things we would have previously let fall by the wayside. We read recommended books, we write down and look up websites when a friend recommends them and we don’t put off meeting new people or calling someone to meet for coffee.
We have embraced and value the importance of making the small decisions, making a better decision, and making each decision count towards the whole of our lives.
These grain-of-sand decisions have impacted and changed our lives like no other.
“Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.” ~ George Elliot
Question: Have any little decisions changed your life?
Claudia that’s awesome and a great post. Yes of course – every small decision has impacted my life! My decision to look for a new job when I was very comfortable working for a spice company 30 years ago was probably the biggest small decision. I loved the people and had been there 5 years – they loved me and I knew the job. But God put on my heart that I should work for a lawyer. I started going on interviews and got the job and through one of the other girls in the office met my husband. That changed everything – for the better! Your post reminds me of that scripture that tells us not to despise the day of small beginnings.
Wow Ann,
You have a cool story! It has been so fun to hear other peoples stories in this area!
I didn’t know you worked at a spice company! You were brave to leave a job that felt so comfortable! But, wow, look where it led!!!
Deciding to go to my 10 year high school reunion landed me my current job and moved us from rural Alabama to outside of Atlanta. Not sure if that’s good or bad in the long run, but it really has been a blessing and opened up new opportunities and areas of interests for us. Joining FAA and having Kevin Miller spontaneously mentioning on a member call that myself and another member should get together since we both wanted mentors/accountability. That relationship led me to start a blog and writing. That led me to have coffee with Rob Clinton, which led into meeting you guys and all our fine blogging friends. Great post!
Hahaha awesome Michael!
I never knew of that connection!! Where a chain of decisions leads is sooooo interesting!!
We have definitely enjoyed the process and it is super fun for me to think of the future and what is next 😉
Michael and Claudia are get with connecting people. They don’t just keep all the “good people” to themselves 🙂
Little decisions have been changing my life as well.
Deciding to go for one run has led to me doing a 25K
Deciding to write one post for my blog has led to over 100 posts
Deciding to hunt for one geocache has led to finding over 2000
Joe,
I had to google geocache! I have never heard of it, but is intriguing!! Have you traveled all over the world to find these things??
Yeah, it’s still an underground hobby. My wife describes it as “A grown man’s scavenger hunt.” I’ve gone as far north as Canada and as far south as the Bahamas.
When you’re out geocaching, it can lead you to great, new areas you’ve never known about.
Joe, I’ve heard about geocache-ing, but we’ve never done it. It sounds like a way to add some extra excitement to upcoming road trips. I’m adding it to our goals list for the upcoming year. Do you have any good resources or blog about the basics and how to get started?
That it can be Jody! You’ll also discover new areas and out of the way beauty.
The Official Geocaching site is a great place to start. They’ve got great tutorials and what it’s all about. You may also be interested in checking out the Podcacher podcast.
Or, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask me and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
Joe,
Woa! I have literally never heard of this, but it sounds sooooo cool! Checked out the website and I am intrigued!
Hahaha I like how you call it an underground hobby…
It’s a lot of fun, especially if you like to be outdoors.
Now, most people already have all the equipment they need to go out caching. A smart phone and a pen or pencil is all you need.
Wow, that’s incredible that you’ve geochached from Canada to the Bahamas! Very cool.
There’s been some amazing adventures Michael. The Bahamas was during our honeymoon. We were brought to this amazing wall from a war that was built for the possibility of war.
Love your timeline there! Isn’t that incredible? We don’t realize many of our little decisions because usually we’re making decisions by habit. All those little things we do make huge differences. That’s why it’s better to do 3 minutes of exercise every day for 30 days, than go run for an hour and quit after 3 days or get thrown easily off course by circumstances. Establishing the habits ingrains the type of decisions we’ll make along the way, and thus make us who we are.
Yup, yup Rob,
You said it brother!
How is your running going btw?
Well, kind of had to reset myself over the summer ever since all those happenings, but I’m back on the road re-establishing the habit daily. I’m sure I’ll be back up to 8 miles by next month! Onward forward 🙂
What happenings?! I don’t remember anything major happening this summer! 😉
You are doing a great job jumping right back in Rob! Love your persistence and “onward forward” approach towards life. It has taken you far!
Hope your lovely wife is recovering well!
She is doing much better! The Physical Therapist had her running on the treadmill, so she’ll be back on the road before long I’m sure 🙂 We’re excited! Thanks Claudia
That’s great news, Rob!
This is a really cool exercise in looking back and gauging how one small step led to another. I felt like I was looking into my own life for a moment with the Dave Ramsey to Dan Miller to FAA path.
And I’m grateful for your commitment to relationships. That speaks volumes about who you are, and we are grateful to have shared a meal together!
Interesting how my decision to attend graduate school in VA Beach has led us to call this place home for 7 years. My wife’s health condition led us to pursue new opportunities, which led her to publish a cookbook, which helped me discover my love for writing and inspired me to write a blog. The health condition also created a financial strain, which led me to seek out new sources of income, which led me to becoming quite the mystery shopper (said in the most humble way), which is leading to some exciting new plans!
Chris,
Twas lovely lovely!!!!!!! What a blessing you two were/are!
I know, our paths have been similar!
I love hearing your story and where it has led you, and am so excited for what is ahead! Mystery shopping 101 for all!
Chris, I feel like we need to get to know you more. I’ll be spending some time stalking your Facebook site and your blog. You’re mystery shopping tips were great 🙂
Hey Jody, we would love to get to know you guys better! Feel free to have a look around and drop by. I’ve been inspired by the traveling and intentional life you all are pursuing. Glad those mystery shopping tips helped. I’m going to be putting together a new project to incorporate some of that info for others to use.
Chris, I never knew Karen publishing her cookbook led to you discovering your love of writing. I think that’s really neat. And, you being quite the mystery shopper led to us bringing in some much needed extra income during this period of our lives.
Michael, yes the cookbook was a big push, along with numerous people telling me how talented I am in this area. I’m thrilled that my experience with mystery shopping helped guide you all to generating that extra income! You all have been working extremely hard, and it is so rewarding to see your follow-through on the information!
Absolutely. It came at the perfect time.
I love this post! As you know, we have a similar story that started with Dave Ramsey, let to Dan Miller, led to FAA, led to many new, like-minded people who have introduced us to other really interesting people, who have inspired and supported us in our Epic Adventure. This summer has been built on one little decision that mushroomed to a new life. Great post, Michael and Claudia.
Thanks Jody!
So excited for your guys, you have worked so hard, and it did all start with a decision which led to another and another! Yea and those decisions have led to connections and more connections… Imagine trying to do what you are doing now without that support!
Hope you guys are having fun over yonder! Wish we could swing by! 😉
haha. A friend let us borrow the Total Money Makeover and through that we heard of Dan Miller! Dan introduced us to Kent Julian and Kent introduced us to a whole new lifestyle. Great post.
Alana,
That is awesome! You went to one of Kent’s events didn’t you?