You Must Decide

You can feel stuck for months–same problems, some complaints. Until one day, something clicks. Not because any outside circumstance changed, but because you decided to.

When I was ten, I decided I wanted a horse. I was committed. I taped a thermometer-style savings tracker to my closet door and got to work.

First, I sat with a calculator and tack catalog to calculate all the things I’d need to buy and came up with estimates for boarding and veterinary care. Then over the next several years, I stashed any money I could selling friendship bracelets, babysitting, loan sharking my older brother (true story), and, the minute I was old enough, working a real job.

Did I ever get the horse? No. I bought a computer to go to college instead.

But that decision changed how I approached money forever. I learned the power of amassed money, and that I had agency over how much money I had or didn’t. It was truly the starting point for me now writing emails to you every week about money.

But it started with a decision. An I-want-this-and-no-one-can-stop-me decision.

Big or small, young or old, the decisions we make are what really shift things.

You probably have your own examples, like stopping a destructive habit, leaving a relationship, choosing a different point of view, or starting a new adventure.

The ones that stick weren’t vague hopes or passing thoughts. Because decisions are different. They are clear and specific, motivated choices to change something, to do something different. They start with a quiet but firm no more of this or it’s time for something better.

We don’t need to wait for permission. Or for ideal circumstances. Or for the perfect plan.

And we certainly don’t need to wait for progress or momentum to show up. Because it’s the decision that brings those about.

We just decide:

I will have $10,000 in savings by December 1.

I will lose an inch around my waist by Thanksgiving.

I will stop using the Chick-Fil-A drive through.

And then you make a plan to bring it to reality and simply do your best. My ten-year-old self had stacks of papers and calculations to lay out my plan. You might just need a substitute habit or mini-milestones to help step you down the path towards your goal.

But here’s the real kicker—even if you go off course or wind up in a whole new direction, it was still that original decision that brought you to the next fork in the road, that let you see a new door.

I didn’t get a horse, but I learned something crucial, something that is still part of my identity today.

Decisions matter because they create action and momentum.

Don’t be afraid and hold back. Just make that decision and get to work.