The power of a decision is perhaps the most powerful force in the universe. The only thing is too many of us don’t make them.

I recently became smoke free after 8 years of smoking and I have to say it was very easy to do, once I made the decision to do it.

Now I must say I did try many times before I finally and successfully gave it up however that is all they were tries. I didn’t really want to, I knew I should for health reasons however deep down it was serving a purpose to smoke.

It wasn’t until I got leverage on myself and really thought about what it would mean for me long term to stop smoking and the consequences would be if I continued to smoke.

You see making a definite decision about something will change your life, and it seems so simple, we make decisions all day, every day. So why is making some decisions so hard? Or more correctly, why are some decisions not successful as they should be?

Life is all about making decisions and the decisions you make will shape your destiny.

If you ask most people ‘would you like to be financially free?’ Most people would say YES! So then, why aren’t people rich, if all it comes down to is a decision?

I am sure there are many answers to this question however, I truly believe they simply haven’t made a definite decision; it is more like a trying attempt. Just like when I and most people tried to stop smoking.

Most people only have the trying part down, they are not prepared to do as Julius Caesar did and burn the ships. If you don’t know the story Julius Caesar lead his army to invade Egypt and when he got to the shore he ordered his troops to burn the ships that way it was either do or die. To succeed in your decision making you need to make this kind of commitment.

Chances are very high that whatever you want in life someone else has achieved it, so it is not a question whether it can be done. It is simply about making a decision to do it and how badly you want it. You need to get leverage on yourself.

If you want to get power behind your decision making and create meaningful and long lasting leverage, here is a powerful exercise you should do.

Take some time out right now about 15 minutes, find a quite place and visualise for a moment of the what your life would be like if you don’t make a certain decision that you know you should make. Now think about what life would be like in 5 years from now, 10 years from now and even 20 years from now. If you are doing this properly you should be feeling pretty bad right now.

Now think about if you do follow through with this decision and visualise how your life would be 5, 10 or even 20 years from now. Feel the positive impact this decision would have not just to you but to all the people around you. Feeling good? I hope so!

You should have some leverage now. I would love to hear your opinion and feedback on this little exercise.

Losing weight is a topic that a large percentage of our population are interested in. There are a great number of diets out there that claim to be the one to work, but how many of them truly work as claimed? Not all do.

What is the reason for the failure of so many of these diet plans? They are not always healthy, long term plans, but instead are often unsustainable calorie restriction plans. If you finally would like to learn how to lose weight fast and maintain that weight loss, you need something different.

To achieve weight loss, there are two basic ways to do it. Reduce your calorie intake and/or maximize the rate at which you burn calories.

Most weight loss plans only address calorie reduction. If you really want to drop pounds and keep the pounds gone, you have to do something different. You can’t simply starve yourself forever. The solution is to increase your metabolism, so you burn more calories. By using additional calories, you will burn the fat you want to lose.

There are a number of ways to do this. Physical activity is one option. You should exercise regularly any ways, just for health reasons, but by working out in the correct manner, you can increase the effectiveness of your exercise. A straight forward way to do this is to split your work outs up. Instead of a single long workout, workout for shorter periods, multiple times a day. You don’t need to work out twenty times a day for an hour at a time. Remember, we are looking for sustainable. Three twenty minute walks a day could be your personal goal.

Another way to increase your metabolism is through a change in your eating habits. By eating smaller meals more often throughout the day, you will help to increase your metabolism. In addition to eating smaller meals more frequently, eating the right foods will help increase your metabolism. For example, cutting out red meat and replacing it with chicken will help your body run more efficiently.

We go into great detail on this topic at our healthy tips blog. Stop by and check it out. We address a number of health topics that should be of interest to all. This also include additional information regarding weight loss, with an emphasis on healthy weight loss. Remember, with proper nutrition, more frequent eating and a well balanced exercise plan, you can lose weight and keep it off. Good luck, until next time!