Seven Life-Altering Choices That Will Change Your Life
04/05/2021
We all have to make decisions and choices every day. Life-Altering Choices are different from many other choices we make in that they create radically new experiences that have a significant impact on our future…. These critical decisions will:
~ open doors….. or close them, and set the stage for how easy or difficult it will be to change in the future,
~ take us in a specific direction that will set the stage for our future success and happiness, and
~ create a clear pathway by paving the road ahead in preparation for the next big step in our journey….. or build a rocky road filled with obstacles and roadblocks.
They result in defining moments in our life, although at the time, we may not realize the level of impact our choice will have.
There isn’t always a right or wrong to these choices. There are many ways to be successful. But if you know where you want to go — your dreams and goals, you can then focus on the choices that will take you there.
You will live intentionally!
Seven Life-Altering Choices
Here are seven of the major life choices that will involve radically new experiences and can change your future forever.
1. Marry the Right Person.
The decision to get married will change your life forever, but more important than that is the person you choose to marry. A good marriage is one of the life factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness.
Your marriage is the ultimate partnership and is enormously important because your spouse can have a direct impact on the other life-altering choices you make, by expanding or limiting the viable options (if you are to stay in the marriage).
2. Decision to Have Children
Raising children will provide dramatically new experiences that you can’t predict. Once you have a child, you will be a parent for the rest of your life.
Having children is transformational and has proven to be one of the most powerful sources of life satisfaction, self-esteem and meaning, especially for women, even though men are a lot more likely to view childlessness as disadvantageous.
The paradox is, parenting can be more difficult than you ever imagined, and studies show the amount and level of stressors that parents are exposed to by having children reduces happiness.
This apparent gap shows us that the quest for meaning and life satisfaction can override a focus on the pursuit of pleasure. At the end of the day, many parents will tell you children are their reason for living.
3. Career Choice or Career Change
The work or career you choose can set the stage for your future happiness. Working in a profession you hate can bring much unhappiness as life passes you by, and regret in older age as you wish you had pursued your real passion earlier in life.
When you love what you do, it will never feel like work.
Today, more so than in the past, people go through several career changes … which can lead to the next life-altering decision
4. Education
Clearly, there are some careers that require specialized college degrees to enter into. The early choices of higher education is based primarily on “what I want to be when I grow up,” or “ what I can do to make the most money.” But sometimes we find out later, we don’t enjoy the field we chose.
This is probably the easiest choice to change. College isn’t the only answer. With continuing education, online courses, trade schools, and specialized classes, improving your knowledge and skills is within your reach for just about anything you choose to do.
5. Your Circle of Friends
Your motivation, desires, and success are heavily influenced by the people you spend the most time with.
This can be a very good thing…. or it can be the very thing that holds you back from achieving what you really want in life or even believing you can achieve something different.
Want to be more successful and happy?… Spend more time around successful and happy people.
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Jim Rohn
6. Relocation
Sometimes we are forced to make a decision to “pick up and move” for financial reasons. Being forced into a decision of taking a relocation offer or losing your job, can be a rude awakening of just how dependent you have become on your employer.
7. Divorce
Divorce can be one of the most negative, stressful, unhappy times of your life not to mention the effect it has on children. But many people who go through it later describe feeling an incredible sense of relief, especially those who were in abusive relationships.
It is a major disruptor in one’s life and can bring financial, emotional, even spiritual stress. Divorce can change your priorities, relationships, and your financial situation.
Not surprisingly, the frequency of arguments over money remains one of the best predictors of divorce. Getting on the same page with finances will go a long way toward saving a marriage.
Choose With Intention
Our situation in life now is a direct result of the choices we have made in the past… good, bad or indifferent. And we have no one to blame, or congratulate but ourself.
As you build choice upon choice, you create habits that perpetuate your choices. Poor habits can be replaced with good habits… Good habits will make success in whatever direction you take much easier.
Regardless of your age, with a world of choices ahead of you, you can create a “Goals Program For Balanced Success” that will help you:
- gain clarity on your purpose and passions,
- focus your thoughts in deciding the directions you want to take,
- identify the options and choices you must make,
- determine the actions that will lead you in the direction you want to go, and
- set yourself on a path to achieving balanced success.