What if I told you that you are a couple of mindset shifts away from living an amazing life? What if I told you that you are one decision away from getting everything you want? It sounds too good to be true, but hear me out.

Many people are waiting for something to change before they can live an amazing life. In reality, your beliefs form your thoughts. Your thoughts influence your decisions and your actions. The quality of your decisions influences the quality of your life. If you want to change your life, you must change your approach to life—and that includes the decisions you make. Of course, some forces influence your life. However, this is not an excuse to simply succumb or give up.

A crucial decision that will have effects and ripples throughout your life is deciding to accept responsibility for the quality of your life. Everybody can give you a laundry list of reasons why they are not where they want to be. They can point to the economy, the political environment, industry connections, an unfair education system, or any other factor they can come up with or even make up.

As a disabled person, I can point to many reasons why my disability stunts my growth, but I often say my disability is not my fault, but it's my responsibility. When you don't accept responsibility for everything in your life, you give away your power, and there is less creativity in your life. This causes a person to spend time and energy blaming outside factors rather than working on their goals.

The one decision you can make that will help change your life is the simple act of taking responsibility. The question is: practically speaking, what does that look like?

You are responsible for your thoughts, actions, and anything that happens, good or bad. If a child breaks his arm, a parent does not sit there and blame the sidewalk or the neighbor's kids. All that matters is getting to the hospital fast enough to set the arm. Many people just sit there blaming their problems on the economy, politics, other people, or just throw up their arms and say, "It is what it is."

There are categories in your life where you need to take responsibility and decide that you are going to figure out how to set and achieve goals:

1. Create a Vision of Your Life
   Everybody should have a clear vision of what their life should feel and look like. Ask yourself what kind of experiences you want to have. What does an amazing career look like and feel like, and what kind of lifestyle do you need to fund? What are your aspirations for your loved ones, and who do you need to be to support that?
2. The Map
   After you create a vision, you want to figure out the process to get there. The process is everything you need to do to accomplish your goals. Unlike a map, sometimes the process is not clear. You have to be willing to look at the process and improve it. If you need to upgrade a skill, you do it. If you need to hire a coach, you hire them. If you need to see a psychologist to work through some issues, you do so. The bottom line is you find a way.
3. Habits and Actions
   The building blocks of your life are your decisions and habits. The quality of your decisions and habits correlates to the quality of your life. This is not to discount the internal and external challenges you may have. I look at it this way: because I have a disability, the quality of my decisions has to be better to compensate.
4. Opportunities
   These days, a common complaint is that there are no opportunities. However, you are responsible for finding and creating your opportunities. Start with the small ones you have daily. You always have the opportunity to read a book, upgrade your skills, watch an educational video, or be of service to someone. Before you can find bigger opportunities, you must learn to exploit the small, seemingly innocuous opportunities.

Changing your life involves making one decision. That decision is to take responsibility for your life, regardless of how challenging life is or how much you feel that life is unfair.