Ruthie Rios's Key Ideas from The Seven Decisions
by Andy Andrews

I will seek wisdom. God moves mountains to create the opportunity of His choosing. It is up to me to be ready to move myself.

The Guided Decision helps us discover invaluable counsel through books, people, and service. We learn to evaluate the network of influential people in our lives, to seek wisdom from the knowledge of others, and, perhaps most important, to commit to a life of service.

I am a person of action. Many people move out of the way for a person on the run; others are caught up in his wake. I will be that person on the run!

The Active Decision is a wake-up call. Taking consistent action is crucial to the realization of a successful life. We are often amazed, even baffled, by the accomplishments of highly successful people, yet many of their accomplishments occur because of relentless action.

I have a decided heart. Criticism, condemnation, and complaint are creatures of the wind. They come and go on the wasted breath of lesser beings and have no power over me.

With the Certain Decision, we learn to break through fear and judgement to pursue our dreams with determination and focus. With a decided heart, we set our course and assure our destiny.

Today I will choose to be happy. My very life is fashioned by choice. First I make choices. Then my choices make me.

The Joyful Decision is perhaps the most misunderstood of all the Decisions. The Joyful Decision demonstrates that happiness is a choic, and if you are not happy right now, it is a consequence of your own choosing, not the circumstances of life.

I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit. I know that God rarely uses a person whose main concern is what others are thinking.

The Compassionate Decision can heal your heart, mind, and soul. Harboring anger and resentment poisons our minds and hinders our ability to live the other six Decisions with any measure of effectiveness. Forgiveness frees our spirits.

I will persist without exception. Reason can only be stretched so far, but faith has no limits. The only limit to my realization of tomorrow is the doubt to which I hold fast today.

The Persistent Decision reveals a critical twist to the notion of persistence: persisting "without exception" is key to achieving extraordinary levels of success in any area of life. When we consistently make the Persistent Decision, our success is boundless.

Leadership, our our ability to lead is absolutely crucial to having the life you want.

The secret of leadership is simple. You have within you the qualities you need to kead people—you only need to recognize them and begin using them. Our belief create our success or failure. Begin thinking differently about the leader you already are, and alter your destiny.

Leadership essentially boils down to two things: your perspective or beliefs about yourself, and a quality we can call "like-ability".

Like-ability can be defined as the ability to build rapport so that others listen to you. We listen to the people we like.

Leadership, to a degree, is simply relating your beliefs or opinions to others with conviction, even in the face of criticism or dissent.

Have you ever noticed that there is one person in your group who inevitably decides... There are basically two reasons for this: first, everybody likes this person, and second, this person says something! He expresses his opinion. Everyone usually acquiesces. You may not consider that leadership, but that's exactly what leadership is!

Our tendency is to try something a few times, and if it works, it gets reinforced, and we continue to do it; if it doesn't work, we abandon it. In psychology this is called the law of effects—we tend to keep doing things we are rewarded for doing. The opposite, however, is also true: we tend to avoid what punishes us or gives us pain.

What was once labeled "impossible" becomes reality. Opportunities that once eluded you are now attracted to you. Dysfunctional relationship transform into harmonious ones. Life, which was once a struggle, now becomes an exciting adventure. Where you once percieved limitations, you now see possibilities. You go from "pushing" your way through life to "allowing" life's gifts to present themselves. You become a person others want to be around—a mentor, guide, and leader.

Where I am today, we tell ourselves, is a consequence of what other people [our parents, for example] and circumstances have done to me. In blaming other people, and evenys, we weaken our power.

As soon as we subscribe to this line of thinking, or chances for any kind of success dramatically decline.

IF YOU DON'T DON'T ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW, YOU HAVE NO HOPE OF CHANGING YOUR FUTURE.

Your day of reckoning is important. You must come to the self-realization that even though you couldn't control any crazy things that have happened in your life, your choices in response to those things are what led you down to this path you don't like.

WE MAKE OUR OWN WAY. I am responsible for my past and my future.

To accept responsibility for our choices includes becoming aware of and accepting responsibility for our thinking.

Decisions are an outward expression of our thinking.