Follow Through

I had a doctor hand me a sheet of paper a few months ago and tell me, “If you want to really find out what you are allergic to, this is all you can eat and drink for the next three weeks.” That list of thirty-three items, some of which I had never eaten in my life, was soon to be reduced even further. Nuts, dairy, eggs, caffeine, chocolate, vanilla, and ALL grains were gone. I was also left with ONE thing to drink, water. The three weeks turned into a lot longer, but I had no choice … if I really wanted to find out what I was allergic to, I had to follow through with the doctor’s instructions.

I am not here today to talk about my allergies to certain foods … but I do think it gives us all an excellent way to look at improving ourselves and reaching our goals. Best-selling author, Regina Cates, once said, “Often it is the hard decisions you make that lead to an easier life.” I had a decision to make, to follow through on this awful diet or not. In my opinion, I really didn’t have any choice. It was the only way to really find out what was wrong, because all the other “Tests” had failed to fully isolate the problem.

I did a little research about decision making and ran across some surprising statistics about heart attack and stroke patients. You would think with such a life threating event, that patients would make the decision to do everything they could to ensure it didn’t happen again. In a study of 7,519 patients surveyed in 17 countries, only 4.3 percent followed through on the instructions of their doctors. They were told to control three behaviors; smoking cessation, healthy eating and physical exercise. 47 percent changed at least one lifestyle behavior to better their health. 30 percent made two lifestyle changes, but only 4.3 percent made the three changes. We are talking a life and death decision, yet 95.7 percent chose not to follow through and make all three changes.

So, as you approach this new year and the DECISIONS you have to make for your new resolutions, hopes, goals and dreams, I would like to share a few quotes that might help:

• Do what is right, not what is easy.
• Sometimes in life, you have to make decisions that are best for you, not for everyone else.
• Never be afraid to start over. It’s a chance to rebuild your life the way you wanted all along.
• When you need to make a hard decision, flip a coin. Why? Because when the coin is in the air … you will suddenly know what you‘re hoping for.

And once you have decided on your new resolutions, hopes, goals and dreams for this new year, I suggest you follow the success formula from Eddie Rickenbacker, who was America's most successful fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient. Eddie stated, “There’s a six-word formula for success – Think things through, then follow through.