Fork In The Road: Which path will you take?

This morning I followed my usual routine of waking up at 5AM so that I can enjoy a nice cup of coffee as the world comes to life. Waking up early gives you an advantage over other people. Of course you must be productive to utilize that advantage. Today’s post is something that several of my readers have asked questions about so I intend to not only help them, but to also help you with this post.

There are times in life when you reach a point where you have to decide which path you will take. You are fearful because you do not know which choice is the right path for you.

You ask questions like:

• If I choose this job will I end up not liking it?
• If I leave everything behind to move to another country to start a business will I regret it?
• If I go choose this career path will I be able to live comfortably and will I find fulfillment?
• If I follow my vision will I end up being broke and a failure?

Those questions at the time seem like life or death decisions. All though they are life-changing I can promise that they are not as hard as you make them out to be.

You are The Decider in your experience. It is you that decides or chooses what you will do and how your life turns out.

By making a simple choice you can end up being broke or rich. You can end up being in a fulfilling relationship or in one that drains your energy.

You decide if you are going to have a great day or a bad day. You might say, “Sergie it isn’t that easy. I couldn’t help that I was running late which caused me to forget my wallet.” So you are telling me that you just happened to wake up late and your wallet just happened to stay home?

Really?

You are the one that decided to stay up late watching extra episodes of Continuum. You are the one who decided to run around your house in a hectic state because you were going to be late. You are the one who decided to let your mind be distracted and leave your wallet.

This is a very simple example, but one that happens all of the time. As you can see you choose everything in your life. Nothing is in your life without your choosing. Now there are certain things that can happen in your life that you have no control over. But the good news is that you can make decision’s now that will prevent those events from occurring or fix them once they happen.

So many people let the multiple paths that are in front of them run around their mind for days to months. They feel frozen in place and do not know which path to choose.

Instead of deciding which path they wanted they either end up procrastinating which holds them back or choose a completely different path that someone else recommends.

If you procrastinate and do not make a decision you will waste time that could have been used to move you down your path. By continuing to procrastinate you will end up destroying yourself if you do not make a decision.

I compare people who do this to deer.

What options does a deer in head-light have?

• It can decide to stay where it is which only pro-longs its journey across the road.
• The deer can run to the center of the road and doubt itself which causes it to procrastinate with making a decision. By staying in the center of the road it gets hit by a vehicle which destroys it and now the deer’s life is over. GAME-OVER.
• Or the deer can run across the road and reach its destination. By reaching its destination it is on the right path and will not find what it seeks for.

You see that we also have those same options in life. We can stay where we are, doubt ourselves which leads to our destruction, or make a decision and MOVE.

It is up to you Olympian.

Now that you understand that you are The Decider and the options that you have when making a decision let’s get into the bone of this post.

The Fork In The Road: Which path will you take?

You can go straight and run into a wall or you could choose left or right. Which do you choose?

The short answer is that I do not have the answer for you, but that the decision is very easy. How can I do know that the decision is easy, but yet not have the answer?

I do not have the answer because it is not for me to answer for you. All I can do is lead you to the 3 roads, but you must choose which direction. You know exactly what you want. I can bet $1,000 that statement is true. How do I know? I will answer a question with a question.

Every time you weigh the different options which option gives you that burning guy feeling?  Whatever option gives you that burning feeling in your gut is the right choice. You see friend that feeling in your gut is in tune with your true-self. Your true-self or as some call it your Authentic-Self is the part of you outside of the limitations of Ego. It has no emotions towards what others may think about your choice. It feels nothing towards looking stupid. All your true-self feels is what you are and is stuck in the what-is moment. It is there that you know what path is right for you. Your true-self is not persuaded by other people’s opinions, but only by what it wants. This is the place you should come from when making important decisions. Always follow your gut and you will stay on the right path, but if you doubt it or choose something else you will only prolong your journey.

I am living proof of what happens when you either choose something else or follow your gut. I have wasted 4 years choosing other paths, when all I had to do was choose the one I knew I wanted. If I would have chosen the path I knew I wanted I would be at a whole other level of success now. I knew the path that I wanted so that I could live the lifestyle I wanted.

I even knew the way that I wanted to achieve my goals.

What did I do?

Instead I choose to go to upper-management and pursue that path. I developed a close relationship with the owners of the company that I worked for. We would often skip going in to work and instead grab some lunch. They placed me at one of their stores that needed help increasing revenue and effectiveness.

Within 2 months I was able to increase their monthly profit. Workers started showing up for work. The store made you feel happy when you walked in instead of giving you this feeling of sadness. Customers started coming in and making more purchases. My store that I managed became a friendly place that you could go to for an almost family like setting.

I had a popcorn stand placed between the entrance and exit doors so that everyone could enjoy a nice bag of popcorn. It became every employee’s job to greet a customer.

I helped several local projects and hosted events at the store. This built a strong connection with the community. I will write further about how I increased the store’s sales in another article.

Monthly sales went up from $100,300 to over $150,000. You might be saying, but that is only $50,000. For a store the size of the one I took over to increase sales that much within only 2 months is a feat in itself.

I had 7 employee’s that were lazy and lacked direction. They would eat at the checkout areas and would often go to the break room to take phone calls.

Many customers reported to my Assistant-Manager and myself that many of my employee’s were rude to them. I put into action some rules and policies which would increase their accountability and effectiveness.

I stayed at that store for several years and then realized that no matter how much more money I could make for the owner’s I would never make as much as I wanted. I would never truly have the freedom that I so desired.

Instead I would be cursed to work until I was in my 60’s at which time I could retire with a million or two in the bank. Yes that would be plenty of money, but I would have to give up 40-50 years of my life for that small amount of money. I don’t know about you, but that much of my life is worth way more than a few million.

I tried to reason with the owner’s and work out some type of plan so that we could transition into me making more money. They refused time and again. At the time I was making enough money to live comfortably and I didn’t go without anything. But I knew if I wanted to live life in the scope that I wanted I would require more money.

After months of negotiating I saw that I was not going to get anywhere with them. I decided that I was done making them so much money.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful for what they were paying me or all that I had learned because I was very grateful. I just wanted to be paid for the value that I brought with me.

Obviously they would always make more which is their right since it is their business. I just wanted to get a bit more of the pie.

I wish that I could tell you that after that I decided to go with my gut and everything was uphill from there, but I would be lying if I told you that.

I decided to quit my job and get an easy job at a car-dealership. Call me crazy, but I did this so that I could have more time to do the things that I wanted. It was in that time that I created this blog and dived into Network Marketing.

I built a Network Marketing business to 187 people. Several of the leaders on my team were the top salesmen for our region. The feeling that Network Marketing gave me was a constant thrill. I was able to travel all over the country networking with lots of people. My experiences gave me even more leadership qualities and my self-confidence shot through the roof.

With the blog I wrote a few sucky articles that were intended to offer value, but instead were disorganized which gave a terrible  presentation. I have actually deleted some of the articles because it hurt me to read them.

Calm and Collected has come very far since its birth. I have found my unique voice and spoken life into my words which this blog now shows to you.

I build trust through each post because I offer value to you the reader. We make a connection because I show you stuff that I have gone through that resonates with you. Hell you’ve probably went through some if not most of the stuff that I write about.

It took me a while to get to the right path for me, but I finally found it. The realization came from a feeling of being sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I was tired of not taking this blog serious.

I was tired of not having the feeling of fulfillment that I wanted.

I was tired of being all talk and no play.

I was tired of having a miserable relationship.

I was tired of not having the online money-making machines that I wanted.

I was tired of not being able to live on my own terms.

I was tired of doing the same boring work routine day after day.

I was tired of traffic in the morning and night.

So I decided I was done living like that. I made the decision to network with the right people and I formulated a plan for my conquests. I was finally following the direction that gave me that burning feeling in my gut.

Ideas began flowing to me in such multitudes that I had to write them all down. I kept a journal were I recorded everything.

Everything in my life suddenly became effortless. I would decide to do something and without hesitation would do it. I would create a site and then traffic would pour in. Sales would pour in.

I started getting opportunities from every direction. They ranged from business partnerships-life changing events. I will go into more about that in a later post, but just do me a favor and follow your gut. Please!

By following your gut your life will improve. You will start living how you want. Things will become easier. That doesn’t mean that you wont have challenges.

Instead since you no longer have self-doubt and are following your path then you are doing what you are supposed to do. It is what you born naturally for.

See my friend it is you that decides what your life turns out like. You may have everything that you want. There is no limitation that can hold you back from what you want.

With your belief in yourself you will break down walls and clear out the fog. You will start accomplishing more, having more energy, and feeling fulfilled.

Look at yourself in the mirror.

Do it now.

Decide what you want. Since there is nothing that can keep you from achieving what you want then my last question is:

What is stopping you from getting what you want?

Until next time Go and Dominate Your Life.

Your friend,

Dylan Madden

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