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NOTE: As a thank you for reading this blog post, we are providing you with a free excerpt from Dan Castro's book CRITICAL CHOICES THAT CHANGE LIVES.
Those who prosper in the midst of extremely difficult situations are able to see options that others can’t because they choose to answer these three questions differently than most. That’s what makes them heroes. In this book, you will discover the critical choices heroes make when answering these three questions. In reading these stories, I hope you will begin to see the same patterns I saw. These patterns demonstrate what I call The Seven Laws of Critical Focus. The Seven Laws of Critical Focus are my attempt to explain why a few rare people are able to survive and prosper in the midst of adversity while others do not. Here are The Seven Laws of Critical Focus:
(1) Our most recent experiences influence what we focus on;
(2) What we focus on determines what we believe;
(3) What we believe determines what we expect;
(4) We tend to see what we’re expecting to see;
(5) We tend to filter out what we’re not expecting to see;
(6) The more we see, the more options that are available to us;
(7) We have the power to choose what to focus on no matter what is going on in the world around us.
The Seven Laws of Critical Focus are natural laws that govern how you see life, what you expect from life and how you respond to life. It is my hope that once you understand how the Seven Laws of Critical Focus work, your eyes will be opened and you will see and hear opportunities you never have before; that you will see new solutions to old problems; that you will see alternative paths where others see only dead ends; that you will see the blind spots in your life that are holding you back; that you will see the bigger purpose behind what you are doing. In short, I hope that you will be able to see through the eyes of heroes.
In each of our lives, there is usually a decision behind the decision we are about to make. I call this the decision behind the decision. Sometimes there are several decisions behind the decision we are about to make. Some of these “behind the scenes” decisions we make subconsciously without even knowing it. This is an invitation to look deeper: to peel back the layers of the onion and get at the core of the issue.
Throughout the ages, heroic decisions made by mere mortals have changed the course of history. Some of these decisions are well known—the decision of Caesar to cross the Rubicon River with his army, the decision of a collection of colonies to declare their independence from England, the decision of the southern states to secede from the Union, Abraham Lincoln’s decision to free the slaves, the United States’ decision to use a nuclear bomb to bring World War II to an end. You may be able to think of others.
However, lesser-known decisions have changed the course of an individual life or changed the course of history for a particular school, town, neighborhood, church, synagogue or family. Some of these decisions required bravery of the kind deserving of a Medal of Honor. Some have never been recognized except by those immediately affected by the decision.
You may be facing such a decision today. Your decision could change your life forever. It may change the course of someone else’s life forever, perhaps someone you love. It could mean the difference between life and death for someone. It could mean the difference between wealth and poverty for yourself or someone else. It could mean the difference between fame and anonymity. The power to choose is the power to change. The power and freedom to make decisions is one of the most precious gifts we have. Throughout the ages, people have fought wars and sacrificed their lives and fortunes in the name of freedom—freedom to choose how to live, where to go, what to do, where to live, how to worship, what to say, and when and where to say it. You may be facing your own battle for freedom in your own world right now.
All of these people in history have discovered one thing: circumstances alone do not control your fate; choices do. Whether a crisis situation turns out positive or negative depends not so much on the circumstances but in large part on how you deal with it. How you deal with it depends on what you can see and hear in the heat of the battle.
You are an ever-present influence on every situation you encounter. Someone once said, “Wherever you go, there you are.” This is humorous but also very true. No matter what situation you may be facing, you bring a force to the table that no one else can bring. That force is you. As you will see in these stories, the outcome of your situation doesn’t depend as much on the circumstances, as on the decisions you make.
My desire is that by reading these stories, you’ll find gems of wisdom buried within them. Your job is to learn what you can from how the people in these stories saw and heard the world around them.
It may be that no one can really understand exactly what you are going through right now. It may be that no one can truly understand the severity of the consequences of the choices you’re about to make. But perhaps you’ll gain some comfort and encouragement from the stories in this book. My hope is that you’ll learn something from the characters in these stories that will help you in overcoming the obstacles you face. If you listen, they will speak – or at least whisper. If you learn something valuable from this book, pass it on to a friend.
Remember if you are buying or selling Austin real estate, please contact Rose Castro at Austin Options Realty.
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