Yes or No: How Your Everyday Decisions Will Forever Shape Your Life by Jeff Shinabarger

Author:Jeff Shinabarger
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Plywood People, Choices, Q, Leadership, Decision Maker, Catalyst, Orange, Decisions, Decision Making, Leaders
Publisher: David C. Cook
Published: 2014-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

7

A PILE OF CHIPS

Expand Your Options

There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

Nelson Mandela

It was a routine Tuesday at work. I closed my computer at 4:45, walked down the stairs from my office, went outside, and stepped into my car. I did what I always do. Stashed my messenger bag on the floor behind the driver’s seat. Put the key in the ignition and dialed Andre from my favorites list on my phone. I always call her to let her know I am on my way home. Her parents were in town, so I knew I needed to be home early for dinner.

She answered the phone quickly to let me know she was at the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. We were about to hang up when she added, “Oh, I almost forgot. There’s a little surprise for you at home. I can’t really explain it over the phone; you just have to see it—okay, bye.” It wasn’t anywhere near my birthday or Christmas, and she didn’t even give me a chance to ask a question before she hung up. Surprises have the potential to make your day, change your day, or hinder your day. She had my attention.

Grateful that my office was only a mile from the house, because curiosity was getting the best of me, I pulled into the driveway behind my in-laws’ car. I stepped out, grabbed my bag, and peeked around their SUV to find the surprise waiting for me along the side of our house. It was waiting for me right there in the driveway, in plain sight—you couldn’t miss it. The surprise wasn’t a car. It wasn’t a puppy. And it wasn’t a basketball hoop. All of these had crossed my mind on my drive home. I was secretly hoping for that new hoop. Nope, instead my surprise was a pile of wood chips.

Just what I always wanted? The bigger surprise was that this wasn’t just any old pile of wood chips. I think I can safely say it was a mountain of wood chips. I’m telling you the truth; I am not making a mountain out of a molehill. This was the biggest pile of wood chips I had ever seen at a personal residence. Being from Michigan, the only thing I can relate it to is the towering pile of snow at the edge of the asphalt after a truck plows a good-sized parking lot.

That pile of chips stood at least ten feet wide, thirty feet long, and ten feet high. There were easily enough wood chips to cover at least four full properties in our neighborhood. One of my first thoughts was, We don’t even own a wheelbarrow. I had not asked for this wood chip mountain; it had been given to me. Sometimes decisions are made for us. In these moments the questions become, How will we

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