Earlier this month, I received an email newsletter from psychologist, bestselling author, and CEO of Evidence Based Psychology, Susan David. The email was titled “Walking your why” and 2 lines in, was this sentence: 

“Every day, the world presses us to make decisions that aren’t our own.”

Really take a second to think about what that means. Each day of your life, other people, various circumstances, society, and more are forcing you to make decisions that are not your own—likely without you even noticing.

This was really startling to me, but it’s also been the push I needed to make a change and start being in control of my own decisions.

I’d like to help you start to make a change too. Going forward, I challenge you to ask yourself this question when making a decision: “Who is really making this decision?” If the answer is anything but “me,” it’s time to reevaluate.

Not sure what this will look like in action? Let’s consider whether or not you should download an app and purchase a subscription to the latest fitness trend. In order to make sure you are making your own decisions, ask yourself “Who is really making this decision?” before signing up. If your answer is “me,” you’ll know you’re in control. But, if you realize you’re really only considering this purchase because a brilliant company did their job well, you may choose to spend your money and time elsewhere.

I do want to warn you that the amount of times your answer might be someone or something other than yourself can be unsettling at first. However, this awareness will allow you to shift the way you make decisions so you can truly be in control of your time, energy, money, and more in the future.