What is it that would make you more centered, more secure, more you? Now, think about what is preventing you from getting the things that you want. What is it that is preventing you from setting and, more importantly, achieving significant life goals? The answer doesn’t lie with others. The answer is internal. It is only external in the sense that its results are manifested in the physical world.

Fate. Kismet. Destiny. Throughout human history, people of all cultures have used different words to describe the same idea that some events, perhaps all events, are predetermined. The concept behind the idea is that the average person has no power to control certain events, even when the events themselves negatively impact on that person’s life.

We live in a fast-paced world where we are having to make decisions 24/7. So it’s important to develop the ability to make decisions more quickly. In this episode I will be giving you tips on how to make faster and quicker decisions.

In this very short episode, I will give you nine handy tips to make your decision smarter and better.

I told you to practice your decision-making as a way to get better at it. What I haven’t told you is how to start making better and more confident choices. That’s what this episode is all about. Keep in mind that not all decisions need to be this involved. Most actually won’t be. What I’m going to do is walk you through the individual steps of a decision making process. Most of the steps will be for bigger decisions, I encourage you to work through each step as they apply to your situation or decision, rather. Before long you won’t need to think about the individual steps anymore. They will become an Intercal part of your own decision making process.

Take a guess. How many decisions does the average person make per day? It’s about 70. That’s a lot of decision making and choices to be made, isn’t it? Of course, that doesn’t include all the little things we do on autopilot or make a habit, like deciding to brush our teeth twice a day. In short, we make a lot of decisions on a daily basis. You could say that they drive our lives. We also make more decisions now than ever in the history of humankind. We certainly have more choices than our ancestors did. It starts with simple things like the clothing and food that’s available to us.

How many decisions have you made so far today? What about last week? Chances are they were quite a lot of them. Many of them are small decisions like what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, or which road to take to go to the store. Others are a lot harder like choosing which college to attend, what task to work on first at work, or what house to buy.

It’s not hard to know when someone is a good friend. Good friends exhibit patterns of behavior that are positive and make you feel good. Likewise you’re doing things for them that make them feel good as well. In general, these behaviors can be broadly classified into three general categories integrity, caring, and congeniality. Each of these broad categories are themselves comprised of small individualized behaviors. In order for you to understand the qualities that you should be looking for in your inner circle,I have given you three different episodes where I have been discussing the categories of behavior that compose a great inner circle. Stay tuned after this episode for a Bonus Episode: Building Your Inner Circle.

The ability to empathize with those around you is a uniquely human ability. Unfortunately, empathy often gets confused with sympathy. Sympathy is the act of feeling compassion and sorrow for another person’s situation. Their plight causes you to have feelings of your own about what they’re going through, but you have no real understanding or insight about how they feel. Furthermore, sympathy isn’t limited to one person. You can be sympathetic to whole groups of people and even to things that are non-tangible, like causes or movements.

As consensus builders, we tend to reflect the opinions and taste, the likes and dislikes of the people around us. The more time we spend with certain people, the more we begin to reflect who they are and what they stand for. There’s really no way to stop this phenomenon. It is as real and instinctual as the flinch that occurs when something unexpected comes towards your face and just as hard to control.