This the ninth in a series of post based on the 12 Transition Points

The Impact of Life Decisions

Most of us try to avoid having to make life-altering decisions. We want to maintain what we consider a normal life. What if normal is settling for what is second or third best in life? What if these hard life decisions are actually the key to life of impact?

The idea of impact has greater and greater resonance today. It has an emotional appeal that other ideas like success or happiness do not have. Impact provides a way of seeing the effect of our lives beyond just what it does for “me.” When we inject the question of impact into the life decisions that we face, we begin to see our lives as a whole, rather than a more fragmentary existence.

When we make our life decisions based on the impact we want to have, our perception about our lives changes. Sustaining a normal life transitions to creating a life of impact.

Two Types of Life Decisions

There are two types of life decisions that impact us personally.

There is the sudden success or celebrity that comes with an immediate change in our fortunes. Imagine winning a billion dollar lottery. After taxes, you’d have a half billion at your disposal. The life decision is more than just “How am I going to spend $500 million?” This one change ushers us into unending decisions about family, friends, local community and the lifestyle that we can now afford to have. This change in fortune has the potential of changing our whole sense of identity. We’ve all heard stories of people who have won lotteries and their lives became worse. The reason is that they were not prepared for the challenge to their character.

On the other end of the life decisions scale are those decisions that follow significant loss. It could be a loss of life, a loss of a job or a loss of social prominence that we once held.

The Transition to a Life of Impact

We all face life decisions that at the time seem to have no clear path for us to take. In my book, Circle of Impact, in the first chapter, there is a story about William who has to make a major decision about his career. Yet, the more important question is about how his career change will impact his family. How did he make this decision? He did so by aligning the three dimensions of the Circle of Impact. He answered these questions.

What is my purpose?

Who are the people that truly matter to me?

What is it that I have to offer a company or group that makes a difference that matters?

If William’s decision was simply about where he would find his next job, this would not be a life-altering transition point. However, William faced a decision that not only affects his life, but his family. This how a transition point can have no easy answer or path to follow.

Major life decisions call us to look at our lives as a whole, rather than as a set of compartments. We need to ask, “What is the impact that I want to have from this decision. These transition points aren’t simple moments of decision. We are called to make choices about our life priorities and purpose. Being able to see our lives through the lens of impact. Our choices become clearer.

 The Foundation of a Life of Impact

For many of us, our life decisions are the transition point where values come to define their life. We see our lives differently. A clarity of understanding comes to us that we may have missed before.  We find that this change in our self-understanding comes to define the worth of our life.

It may feel odd to speak of our lives having worth. We desire meaning and purpose. They each give us direction. But worth has a deeper sense of significance. To speak of our worth is to speak of the impact that our lives create. The worth isn’t a matter of a well-articulated statement of values. Rather, it is a difference that our life makes.

When we face a major life decision, we think differently about our lives. We see clarity and understanding. We want to make the right choice because we know something is at stake.

When a person becomes a big lottery winner, they are faced with a choice that will define the rest of their lives. Who do they want to be? Alone and wealthy beyond imagination? Or, do they decide to be stewards of a gift that can make a difference that is the opportunity of a lifetime? This is the moment where they decide what their life is worth.

We don’t have to win the lottery to be faced with the same question. We don’t even have to be at a life-altering transition point to ask the question of what our life is worth. All we need to do is ask the question, what matters to be and how do I live that make a difference that matters in the same way.