Richard Leider offers several “laws” on how to making decisions on purpose. These “laws” include (1) getting through the “spiral” of life; (2) knowing what you want and how you know when you got it; (3) to be creative; (4) expressive of your gifts and talents and knowing our lives matter; (5) discovering the four factors of decision-making, knowing your vision; (6) making every job search an in-venture and an adventure; (7) using the T + P + E x V solution in making a decision; (8) living in the real world; (9) not selling yourself short; (10) finding what motivates you; (11) getting advice; (12) and making decisions like the seniors who wished they had made decisions that are based more on reflection, getting things done quick, taking more risks and doing things that gives people a sense of fulfillment. These laws are, I believe, very logical and are often times, looking back, the basis of every satisfactory decisions I have made in my own life.
I, myself, have made a lot of wrong decisions in my life especially when I was a kid. When I was a kid, I did whatever I felt like without thinking of investing in my future or deciding on what I really wanted to do and focus on. And now, sometimes, I wish I could turn back time and redo the wrong decisions I have made. This experience reminds me of “law” 12 where the author says to make decisions the way senior citizens whish they had. I would agree, first of all, that life does pick up speed. Even as a college student, I found out that I had not really prepared enough during my childhood for the challenges I face and the things that I want to do now. I was not reflective as a kid and I did not have any vision of what I wanted to do. When I got tired of something, I just didn’t do it. Now I realize that I could have endured just a little bit longer and I would have had a better perspective on life. I realized that what really gives me a sense of fulfillment now are the things that I had given up as a child. Now, in order to be fulfilled, I need to catch up with what I have missed out on in my preparatory years.
Some of the best decisions in my life were “laws” 1, 3, 8, 10 and 11. The most difficult to follow among these is “law” 1. The thing about this law is that it pushes you out of your comfort zone and pushes you in ways that, sometimes, you have to resort to clawing your way out of the lows of your life. The thing about the “spiral” is that, not everyone handles the periods of uncertainty and lows well. Learning how to “go on to the next phase of like” is something of an art, and the key, from my experience is to look on the positive side of things no matter what. This is parallel with “law” 5, which tackles vision. Sometimes positive thinking even on the lows of life can lead us to have a more steady vision, especially if we think about the successes of people who have been through what we have and got out of it just fine.
What I really have to focus on now are laws 2, 4, 6, and 9. What connects these three “laws” is the fact that they are all connected to looking within yourself and setting your own path based on who you are. Unfortunately, my bad habit as a child is haunting me until now and I still don’t know what to do. What I have been doing in my life is something akin to going to a buffet table and sampling everything without ever sticking to one thing. While I have reasoned that this is the way I would know what I really like, it also became a double edged sword. In doing this, I have neglected to see what I truly value and I confused myself with having so many options. It is a lesson well learned and a good reminder of what I really need to do in order for my life to have meaning and direction.
