Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Turning "It" all around...

Today I thought I would take a break from my regular blog routine, if I even have a routine after only four posts, and instead I thought I would share with you my thoughts from a movie I watched recently. The movie is Vanilla Sky starring Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz, and although it is perhaps a little difficult to follow in places, it has one of my favorite lines in it. If you haven't seen the movie there is a point where the main character David is perhaps beginning to lose control and and he is told by Sophia whom he has just met "That every passing moment is another chance to turn it all around.". Wow !! What a great line! I remember when I first heard this that I wrote it down and stuck in on the fridge. I did this for two reasons.

First - I wanted to remember it because I thought that it was so true and,

Second - and more importantly, I did it so that my kids would see it and ask me what it was all about. Which of course they did!


So what did I tell them? Well I used this opportunity to explain to them that life is full of decisions, some big and some small, and that throughout a typical day,week or year we make countless decisions. I explained that these decisions can play a huge part in the quality of our lives. For more on this see my post on the importance of decisions and decision making here http://http://mysuccessideas.blogspot.com. I also explained that nobody is perfect and that we don't always make the best decisions and thus sometimes we end up on the road to somewhere we don't want to be. Sometimes we refrain from making a decision and instead just end up "going along for the ride" while someone else makes the decisions for us. Before we know it we are in over our heads, doing something we don't want to do or perhaps just unhappy with where we are at in life. The great thing though is that with every passing moment we can turn it all around. In an instant we can make a decision that this is no longer the way that it is going to be. Now of course kids being kids, the next question was "what is it". Well I said.....it can be anything. We can start to change anything in an instant once we decide to change it. This is where I really tried to pass along some wisdom.


Perhaps you are hanging out with friends and you end up at a party with no parents home. You know you shouldn't be there but you "decide" to stay. Then some more kids show up and they have brought some alcohol. Now you are really uncomfortable but nobody else is leaving so you "decide" to stay. Now it's time to leave and someone who has had way too much to drink offers to drive home. As you all walk to the car this is the IT !!! Make a decision. Offer to drive, suggest you all walk home, phone me but with every passing moment you have the opportunity to say enough is enough, things have gone to far and I'm going to do something to change this outcome. It is the same with your life. Maybe you are broke, or in a bad relationship, or overweight or in a dead end job. If you don't like where your life is headed then do something ! Make a decision! It's not too late to turn things around. Say enough is enough and from now on things are going to be different, even if you don't know how you are going to do it. It all starts with a decision, and once that decision is made, then you can go about figuring out how you are going to do it. Once you have made the decision there are all kinds of resources available to help you figure out how to do it. You can follow along on my blog as I share with you what works for me. Better yet don't just listen to me, there are all kinds of people out there with blogs who have some excellent content. Although I think I have a pretty good plan, it is not the only plan. For now I encourage you to give some thought to your life and make some decisions about what you are willing to accept. Remember "That every passing moment is another chance to turn it all around". How many chances are you going to pass up ?