Improving Your Odds for Success with Life Balance…

Some people let life just happen to them. They don’t believe they have much influence over the outcomes in their lives. They see themselves as, more or less, boats floating on a big ocean without much of a rudder. Where they go is determined by the wind and the current. Sometimes they may get where they want to go but if they do, it’s just happenstance. I believe most people live their lives this way. They let others decide how their day will play out. They, more or less, forfeit their lives to the people around them.

Are you in this trap? Ask yourself some of these questions:

1. Do you feel like your boss solely determines your chances for promotion?
2. Do you wonder how in the world your marriage ended up such a mess?
3. Are you amazed at how quickly your paycheck is used up?

For many of us, these things just seem to happen. That’s too bad. In reality, we have much more control over of our lives than most of us give credit.

In weather, we forecast using probabilites. We can recoginzie patterns that have resulted in a certain kind of weather in the past to forecast what will happen in the future. If a storm system has plenty of moisture and rising air, then the probability of rain will be high. Your local forecaster might forecast a 90% chance of rain. The odds that it will rain are much higher than the weather staying dry based on how the system is behaving.

I consider our lives to work by the same principle we use in forecasting. The outcomes are largely based on our behavior. For instance, if you want to improve the statistical probability that you will get promoted in your workplace, then you need to take action to make that happen. Don’t sit, wait and hope that your boss will do it on his or her own. You need to start going above and beyond the call of duty. You need to make a plan of action that will get you noticed when the opportunities for promotion come up. Take initiative, show off your talents and stand out from your coworkers. If you’re doing merely what’s expected of you in your job just to “get by”, the probability of staying in that position and not getting promoted goes up. If you want to have a loving and healthy marriage, then nurture it. You should want to make sure your spouse knows how loved and appreciated he or she is. Take the time to show that person that they are important to you. If you don’t, then the probability of a successful marriage goes down. The probability of becoming wealthy is nearly zero if you spend more money than you bring in week after week, year after year. You can hope to win the lottery, you can hope for a windfall out of the blue, you can hope someone else will save you but probabilities are, that won’t happen.

Begin thinking about living a balanced and successful lifestyle in terms of probabilities. Every day, think of new ways to improve your odds that the outcomes in your life will be good rather than bad. While there are not guarantees in life, those who live extraordinary lives take specific steps to make that happen. They improve their odds by making good decisions. It’s much more simple than many people think. Remember, the crowd is small at the top and very crowded at the bottom. Don’t continue to flounder in the crowd at the bottom, allowing circumstances and other people determine what happens to you. Make decisions that will increase the probability for you to move up. If you ask anyone at the top, they’ll tell you they are glad they did…

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