How to Make a Damn Decision

How to Make a Damn Decision Day One. The first step in any journey is often the most difficult. This was true for our journey into minimalism:  our first step had nothing to do with a task we had to completeâ€"our first step was deciding. Or, rather, deciding we wanted to make a significant change in our lives. Change is  difficult, and procrastination is easyâ€"at least for the moment. But there is no reward in procrastination. The most difficult part of creating a lasting change is deciding to make that change a realityâ€"deciding to take action. Two Kinds of Decisions Fundamentally, there are two kinds of decisions: intellectual  and emotional. Intellectually, we knew we wanted a change in our lives. We knew we were unhappy, unsatisfied, and unfulfilled. We knew we didnt have freedomâ€"not real freedom. The problem was we knew these things intellectually, but not emotionally: We didnt have the feeling in our guts that things must change. We knew they should change, but that  change wasnt a must. Should vs. Must Its like anything else you tell yourself I should change. I should stop wasting my money. I should work fewer hours. I should get rid of all this junk. I should eat healthier food. I should exercise. I should write more. I should read more. I should watch less TV. I should, I should, I should. After a while, you end up shoulding all over yourself, which is an apt analogy because you really do feel like shit after youve put everything off for so longâ€"after youve procrastinated over and over and over. Once you understand the necessity for change  on an emotional level, you are able to turn your shoulds into musts. To accomplish this, we must begin to associate enough pain with our current circumstances and then equate immense pleasure with our new outcome. A mixture of enough pain combined with enough pleasureâ€"this is how we change our shoulds into musts. This  is the pivotal point. This is when you get leverage. This is when you are compelled to take action. This is how you make a damn decision. A decision is not a real decision until it is a must; it is not a real decision until you feel it on your nerve endings. Once your shoulds have turned into musts, only then you have made a real decision. I must change. I must stop wasting my money. I must work fewer hours. I must get rid of all this junk. I must eat healthier food. I must exercise. I must write more. I must read more. I must watch less TV. I must, I must, I must! Your only exercise today is simple: make your Must List. What are your musts? What must change? What has brought pain into your life? What will bring great pleasure? Take as much time as you need and write down all your musts. I must I must I must Say your musts aloud. Do you feel how much more powerful the musts feel compared to your shoulds? The Should List is weak, passive, lethargic. The Must List is strong, vigorous, energetic. The musts are aliveâ€"you must take action! Of course, this first day isnt even about taking action (well  take action every day after today), and yet Day 1  is the most difficult. Today is the day you must decide things must change. You know, at least intellectually, you are not happy with how things are in your life. But you cant have it both ways: you cant want it to be one way, when your actions are the other way; if your actions are not congruent with your desires, then you will never feel happy, never feel fulfilled, never feel content. Take a look at your Must List. Put that list somewhere you will see frequently. Now stop everything you are doing and make a damn decision: make the decision to change your lifeâ€"to live the life you  want to live. Dont just think about the change intellectually, feel it in your gut. (By the way, you can read our Must List when you get to Day 2.) Today is the best day of your life, because today is the day everything changes: Today is the day your shoulds turn into  musts. Today is the day you decide to take action. Today is the first day of the rest of your new, simplified  life. How to Make a Damn Decision is  Day 1 of Our 21-Day Journey. Move on to Day 2. Read Ryans journal entries from this journey in Everything That Remains. You May Also Enjoy How to Start a Successful Blog Today Learn how to start a blog in less than an hour. Follow the step-by-step instructions we used when starting our blog, which now has reached more than 20 million people. Creating this blog is one of the best decisions Ryan and I ever made. After all, our blog is how we earn a living. More important, it's how we add value to other people's lives. Read more 30-Day Minimalism Game Let's play a simple game together. We call it the 30-Day Minimalism Game. Find a friend, family member, or coworker who's willing to minimize their stuff with you next month. Read more 11 Ways to Write Better We are all writers now. Whether you write books, blog posts, emails, Instagram captions, or text messages, you are a writer. No matter your preferred medium, here are a few tips to help you write more effectively. Read more Subscribe to The Minimalists via email.