Whenever you are at a crossroads, just take a decision and make it right. It’s not the decision that’s right, it’s you who’s going to make it right. Whether you think you can’t or whether you think you can, you’re right. Therefore, the power lies solely with you.
You will have many moments in life where you will question whether you made the right choice or not. My parents immigrated from South Korea to the United States. I have no idea what would have happened had I stayed in South Korea. However, what’s important is that we made the most of the decision.
There were many stressful moments where we needed a tremendous amount of adjustment to the new culture. The first months were filled with yelling and stress that we took out on each other. However, we survived through it all and came out ahead by the end.
I have no idea how my parents decided to take their entire family to a completely foreign country. How they felt comfortable enough to actually do it to take the promotion offered by the company. However, I am so glad they did. They took a decision and made it right. Our family is thriving more so than ever because of it.
You are going to have one or two decision in your life that’s going to change your course forever. The opportunity to take the adventure of a lifetime or to play it safe and keep everything the same. Whichever one you decide to do, you have the ultimate power to make it the right decision.
It’s your canvas that you’re drawing on for the whole world to see. Your life story to tell. Don’t let others tell it for you.
Meaning of Take a Decision and Make it Right
Take a decision and make it right means that whatever decisions are in front of you, you have the final say to make it right. It’s not based on outside factors, it’s completely up to you. Any decision and be made into a good one with enough effort and creativity.
Whenever you are stuck and overthinking the pros and cons of two choices, it’s not about the decisions. It’s about your outlook and subsequent decisions that are going to make all the difference in the world. I had a choice between a $65,000 job versus a $52,500 job when I graduated college.
I took the $52,500 job because I thought I would be a big fish in a small pond. Surprisingly, I was right. Within six months, my income increased to $56,000 plus a $30,000 bonus. I took the decision and made it the right one. Even though it didn’t look right at first glance.
That’s how it should be. If all else fails after putting in a lot of effort, you can always change your mind. The same opportunities might not be available but you can always put yourself in a similar position you once were. That’s the absolute last resort. In all of these cases, you’re still in a good spot.
One way to take a decision and make it right is to SMASH that social share button and post to your favorite social media! Your friends might be struggling with making an important life decision and this article can help them get out of the analysis paralysis.
Give them a gentle nudge to remind them that they have complete control over what makes a good decision. They might be discounting their own power more than they realize.
The Fallacy of the “Right Decision”
You can’t ever magically compare the two decisions. You can’t see a simulated world where you get to see the outcomes of both decisions. That’s just not how real world works. You’re trying to make the “right decision” when you can’t ever know it’s the “right decision”.
Even if it turned out badly, you can’t magically go back in time and see if the other decision would have been better. Or worse. Or the same. That’s not the real world and it never will be. Even if your decision turns out badly, the other decision might have turned out worse. You just don’t know.
That’s why you need to take a decision and make it right. Whichever one you decide will be the right one. Why? It’s you who made it. No one else made it for you. Whether it fails or whether it succeeds, that doesn’t matter. It was your choice that you made. Don’t let anyone else make it for you by seeking out mentors.
All they have is a pretty good idea of your situation. Only you know with 100% accuracy what your situation is. That’s why it’s almost foolish to seek out outside opinion to help guide your decision. At the end of the day, you’re the one who’s going to live with your choices.
When you’re at a crossroads, wondering for the millionth time what to do, just do it. Don’t ever look back. You left that life. There’s no point in dwelling what could have happened if you took the other job. It doesn’t matter. It only matters in your imagination and alone thoughts.
To the outside world, all we’re going to say is “shoulda, coulda, woulda”. It’s a waste of time to think backwards in time.
List of Things to Take a Decision and Make it Right On
So now that you’re convinced that you should take a decision and make it right, let’s go over what decisions to do this on.
1) Your Spouse
Let’s be completely real. Love at first sight may be real, but that doesn’t mean you love your spouse all the time. Relationships take a lot of work. Some days take more work than others but you need to put in the effort. When you’re deciding whether to marry or get into a relationship with someone, it’s not perfect.
It never will be. There’s only one copy of perfection in your eyes in the world. And that’s only you. The chances that someone else in the world will be exactly the same as you as the opposite gender? Perfectly zero. Your significant other is one of the biggest decisions you’ll ever make in your life.
He or she is the one who you need to take a decision and make it right on. Don’t go and marry anyone off the street and make it the right decision. But pick one that you think are generally good and move on. Don’t get sucked into the “are they the best one in the world?” theory.
There will always be someone out there better or worse for you. However, it takes a lot of effort to find the better ones. Don’t overthink it.
2) A Job
Taking a new job is ALWAYS a risk. I have thoughts from time to time whether I made the right decision changing companies. The industry was amazing but the boss was awful. When I see how well the prior industry is doing, I think about how much I miss it.
How I let someone else drive me away because they were bad, not because I wanted to. However, that part of me is the past now. It affects me from time to time but I’m generally moved on. Although I am taken advantage of at work from time to time in my current job, I do well at it.
The company promoted me this year and I’m earning more money as a result.
I took a decision and made it the right one. Could it have been better staying at my old company? I have no clue at all whatsoever. I’ll never find the information out either. Therefore, it should be the same for you when you’re deciding on a new job.
If the opportunity is objectively better in terms of salary, work culture, and happiness, what’re you waiting for? What’s holding you back from making the decision? Find the answers to these questions.
3) A New City or Country
It’s quite amazing how my parents had the gall to actually move to a completely new country. With a completely new language. With completely new people. We didn’t have any family to rely on and talk to. To this day, I have no idea how they made that decision to go through with it.
I wouldn’t have done it and I wouldn’t do it now, with some exceptions. I can’t imagine moving to a completely new country and rebuilding my life over from scratch. However, if the opportunity was good enough, I would take the decision and make it right.
If the opportunity is there and it’s an overall net positive to your life, then it might not be a bad idea to make the move. Fear may be the only thing that’s holding you back, which isn’t a good reason. Don’t make decisions based on bad emotions. Fear may just be excitement disguised as fear.
4) A Promotion
If you’re scared whether you’ll fail with the additional responsibilities, it’s more than just a lack of self belief. Why would they choose you if they didn’t think you would do well at the job? Even if it’s a completely new position, just take the decision and make it right.
You can figure it out. You’re smart enough to figure out your job so far, why would you not be smart enough to go upwards? Do you really want to wait on the sidelines while others take the job and progress further than you? Or do you want to be the one trying to make it successful?
Fear at the additional responsibilities is one of the worst reasons to not take a promotion. Promotions only come by once in a while. It’ll feel bad when you realize you have to wait an additional year or two just to get offered the same thing. Whether we realize it or not, a year is a VERY long time to wait, only to end up at the same spot.
5) Starting a Business
This is the riskiest decision out of all. The two decisions will always be to go with the safe route and stay working for another company. Or it could be to take the riskiest plunge you’ve ever taken and start a business. The way to mitigate this risk would be to start it on the side.
When Jeff Bezos started Amazon, his parents told him to start Amazon on the side. He already had a great job. Jeff Bezos refused. I can guess that he doesn’t regret going all in on the business. However, not everyone has parents who can invest $300,000 for 6% of your company as Jeff Bezos did. Inflation adjusted, it’s closer to $500,000 now.
Therefore, for the majority of us, we can start a business and test it through a couple of years. It’ll go through cycles throughout those years. Then you can make the decision whether it’s viable or not. That’s when you know whether you have a real shot at going all in and making that choice the right one.
Make a Clean Break, There are No Wrong Decisions
You are going to go through the “what if” monster. The monster who constantly asks you “what if I didn’t make this decision? How would my life be different then?” It’s fine to have these thoughts once in a while. However, don’t let them bother you that much.
I wondered that when I was working for another toxic boss at my last company. Another company circled me with a juicy $90,000 salary + bonus offer. I wondered what would happen if I had taken that job. Would I be happier? Would I not be in misery anymore?
However, while I questioned it, I never let that bother me. Don’t live in alternate universes where you went with the other choice. Live in reality with the choice that you already made. You already made the decision, now all that’s left is for you to commit to it and see it through.
You can never make a “wrong decision” not only because comparing it is impossible. But because you can always move on to something else. it’s not easy to move into something else but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. You can always switch to another path if the current one isn’t good enough for you.
Don’t let others see you fail. There are people who would love to see you fail and be vulnerable. Don’t let them have that satisfaction. Dig deep within yourself and don’t give up. You can always change and move into something completely difference if you wanted to. You have a lot of power.
It’s Up to You to Take a Decision and Make it Right
It’s your subsequent decisions that makes all the difference in the world. Not the decision itself, not someone else’s opinion. But your follow up choices, decisions, and attitude. No one else is going to do it for you. It’s entirely up to you to take a decision and make it right.
Do you really care if you fail or succeed? Or do you care that you’re the one who made this choice? You don’t want to tell your life story at 80 years old to your grandkids with decisions you didn’t make yourself. Your decisions aren’t right because it turned out successful. Your decisions aren’t right because you listened to others.
It’s right because you listened to yourself. There is absolutely no shame in waiting it out a couple more years, if the luxury exists. I personally want to start my own company in the next two years. I don’t mind waiting those two years out to position myself better to start the adventure of my lifetime.
Whether I fail or succeed, I know that it could lead me into other opportunities I didn’t even consider or think about. It’s not going to be easy but I know I will throw everything I can at the wall before I throw in the towel. I will give it everything that I got to not make it fail.
It’s the same way for you. You know that when your back’s up against the wall, you’re not going to go down without a fight. You’re going to kick, scratch, and claw yourself out of any hole. You know that you’re going to take the decision and make it right.
So then now, the question becomes, what decision will you choose?
