Decisions Decisions!

There is a term in military aviation 'Decision Height', that refers to that point in your decent where you have to make the decision to go on and land or to pour on the jet fuel and go around for another attempt.  Our lives are a long series of decisions and like that pilot you have to make those decisions.

Our life is a journey but the path is never straight.  It's the decisions that we make at each cross roads that determine how successful our lives will be.  Some of those decisions are the most important things we will ever do because they directly affect us from that instant forward.  There are some decisions that when you look back over your life were clear turning points.  The decision to go to collage, to get married, have children the list goes on, each of those were decisions that changed you forever.

As adult athletes we have even more decisions.  To start with, the decision to be an adult athlete and follow the path of a healthy lifestyle is an extremely important decision.  We have no idea how important it really is except for the affects it has on our health and fitness.  That decision can have the effect of you being a positive example to people you don't even know.  Someone who has been on the edge of making the decision, to start getting into better shape, might see you out on the road doing your miles and make their on decision, right then and there.  Or your children, co workers, friends, anyone might look at you as the positive role model that helped them to lead healthier lives.

We also make countless little decisions every day most of which aren't, in them selves, life changing but they do add up.  We need to strive for the good decisions to vastly out weigh the poor ones.  I'm going to give you a weapon, for you to use, to strengthen your 'will power', remind yourself that you are making a decision when you are making one.  When you are hungry, remind yourself that you are about to make a decision, don't just reach for or order whatever.  These smaller decisions can add up and eventually cause major changes in your life.  Enough poor decisions can increase your body fat, decrease your stamina and impede your progress.  But enough healthy decisions can do just the opposite and speed you along on your chosen path.

Some decisions can seem insignificant at the time but they can start a chain reaction that you didn't see coming.  Calling in sick at work, because you have something else to do or you just don't feel like it, can seem harmless but that one time makes it easier to do it the next and the next after that.  Deciding to have one more drink, because you feel just fine and very much in control, can lead to life changing consequences that you never imagined.  Even if you don't go out and get in a car and try to drive, just walking you could injure yourself, or you just might show someone a side of yourself that you really wished you hadn't.

This week when you do the marketing, each time you chose an item, think of it as a small decision and not just blindly throw it in the cart.  You want that cart filled with smart decisions and not poor ones, they do add up.  When it's time to exercise and you really don't want to, or you are feeling super and want to push it, remember you are making a decision that can have a cumulative affect on your fitness.  Not working out when the weather is to bad or your not feeling well is a smart decision but not working out because you are just feeling lazy is a poor decision.  Each time you make the decision not to exercise, just like the calling into work sick, when you are not, it gets easier to make that poor decision the next time.  As the Tim McGraw song lyrics go, "You get stronger each time you don't give in".

Our life is a series of never ending decisions.  The best we can hope for is that we have to courage to make the right ones more often than the wrong ones.

Thanks for reading.

Dave