The Golden Mailbox
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Many times we compare our life to things around us. One of those comparisons that I often think about is how much our life is like a rail road track. A rail road track is a path to get somewhere but is filled with switches. Each switch takes the train in a different direction. Life, like a rail road track, is a path that we follow made up of decisions. Each decision can take us to an entirely different destination.

When we make a decision it can very well affect other things in our lives. When we come to a switch in the track of life, which way the switch is turned will determine the outcome. When we throw a switch and go through the crossing our train of life can very well end up in Florida rather than Maine. Switches. They are so like the decisions in our life.

How many times have you made a decision in your life that changed everything. Getting married is a good example. We have always taught our children that one of the most important decisions they will ever make in their life is who they marry. It will have an effect on every fiber of your being once the decision is made and finalized.

We can of course make good decisions and we can make bad decisions, and there in lies the real comparison to the rail road track. Many times the decision we make can take our life in a totally different direction that sometimes can never be changed back. Some people who have taken drugs or become bank robbers have found that out from hard experience.

The obvious point of this discussion is that good decisions have that same power to change our lives forever. If we make right decisions, good decisions, then our path of life will take us where we want to go. We can become what ever we want to be, if we want to be. All we have to do is make the right decision and then start down the track of life to achieve it.

How do we learn to make good decisions? It starts early in our childhood. We develop attributes that are often called "wisdom" or "common sense" as a child. Those things within us that help us make good decisions are also called "good judgment". The question of course is, how do we develop those attributes of good decision making in our lives? What do we do if we had a childhood that did not lend it's self to making good decisions? There are many answers. Here are just a few:

1. MENTORS: A famous saying of old is, "When the student is ready, the teacher will come". Find people that you admire or who have attributes you would like to mimic. Study their lives. Read about them. If it is possible, arrange to meet them and get to know them. Most people who have become highly successful have mentors that help them. The mentor does not always have to be world famous. They may be someone as great and wonderful as one of your parents or a close friend. Mentors often just come into your life when you need them. Listening to the great minds of the world has had a profound effect on my life. Above all it has given me the desire to be like those I have listened to or read about. When I have a decision to make, I often think of one of my mentors and then ask myself, "Would they do that?"

2. IMPROVE YOUR MIND. Your feelings of self worth have as much to do with making correct decisions as anything else in your life. I know from personal experience that reading good books and listening to educational and motivational tapes can change your life. I seldom ever go anywhere in my car that I am not listening to educational and motivational tapes. I know the radio works, but I seldom listen to it. When your mind is filled with these "power thoughts" making correct decisions seems to come almost as a second nature. When your mind is filled with good thoughts, you will have the desire to do the right things, and knowing how to make correct decisions will flow into your mind like a shaft of light.

3. BELIEF: One of the key elements in decision making is belief. Believe that you can do things right. Believe that within you is the power to choose correctly the things that are best for your over all well being and happiness. With that power of belief, you can change for the good. You can make correct decisions most of the time.

4. CHARACTER: You have to stand for something. You have to believe in something. Your character is one of the primary fundamentals within you that help you make correct decisions. If you have no values, then it will be hard to make decisions. If you know what you believe in and what you stand for, then making correct decisions becomes almost a thoughtless process.

5. CONSEQUENCES: This is one of the power principles of life. When we were children we did things that caused us to get hurt or be sad because we did not know the consequences when we did it. As adults, one of the powerful things that can help us make correct decisions is to consider the consequences before we start. Stephen Covey said it so well when he said, "Begin with the end in mind".

1. MENTORS
2. IMPROVE YOUR MIND
3. BELIEF
4. CHARACTER
5. CONSEQUENCES

With these five elements, you can build your power to make correct decisions. If you are having troubles and find that you have made a lot of bad decisions that are now causing you a great deal of sorrow or grief, try applying these five principles in your life. Just start over. You can not change the past. You can only hope for the future. But you have the power to change today.

Rail Road Switches. They are so much like the decisions in our lives. They always lead to consequences and those consequences will either be good or bad depending on the decision we made.

May we always choose the best switch in our doing, as we move along the track of life.

Your millionaire making friend

Cordell Vail, W.B.