Andy Andrews - The Seven Decisions: Understanding the Keys to Personal Success

PRAISE FOR THE SEVEN DECISIONS

Andy Andrews wordsboth written and spokenare a significant and enduring presence in the lives of our Squadron Commanders around the world.

LT. GEN. MICHAEL W. WOOLEY
USAF COMMANDER, AIR FORCE SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND

Andy teaches with humor and stories... the best way for most to learn the lessons that can change your business... and your life.

RHONDA FERGUSON
PRESIDENT, FINANCIA L CONCEPTS

My friend Andy Andrews is an inspiration! Read this book and find out for yourself.

REBECCA LUKER
BROADWAY STAR

If you are struggling with a troubled past or an uncertain future, this book can lead you to triumph.

JOHN STARR
CEO, KOCH EQUIPMENT, LLC, MEMBER OF YPO

The Seven Decisions manages to practically address lifes challenging balance between taking action and simply trusting God.

JOSH JENKINS
PRESIDENT & CEO, TREEHOUSESEM.COM AND ENSURE CHARITY

The Seven Decisions seamlessly unites life elements that are difficult to pull off on their own, much less together.

ZACH SMITH
PRESIDENT, MERCHANTPLUS

Andy has the extraordinary ability to focus on issues that define ones characterin this case how to be decisive when it counts. Brilliant work!

DOC FOGLESONG
PRESIDENT, MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

The Seven Decisions transcends entertainment. It will encourage you to make your life a masterpiece!

JEREMY BURKHARDT
PRESIDENT, SPEAKERCRAFT

2008 Andy Andrews
Previously published as Mastering the Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by W Publishing Group, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.

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Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN 978-0-529-10435-9 (repack)

ISBN 978-0-529-11270-5 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Andrews, Andy, 1959

The seven decisions: understanding the keys to personal success / Andy Andrews.

pages cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7852-6141-4

1. Conduct of life. 2. Success. 3. Andrews, Andy, 1959 Travelers gift. I. Title.

BJ1581.2.A535 2008

158.1dc22 2007039924

Printed in the United States of America

14 15 16 17 18 RRD 5 4 3 2 1

To Maryann and Jerry Tyler of Roswell, Georgia

I am so grateful for the love, wisdom, belief, patience, and example you have shown me throughout the years.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION:
CREATING THE LIFE YOU CHOOSE

W hen my book The Travelers Gift was released in 2002, no one knew what to expect. After all, even the bookstores could not decide upon the section in which the book would be displayed. Neither, evidently, could the media.

As ABCs Good Morning America promoted the book, it began to appear on every bestseller list in the country. The Travelers Gift was on the New York Times list in the Fiction category. At the same time the Wall Street Journal listed it as Nonfiction. It was Self-Improvement at Barnes & Noble, Literature on Amazon.com, Religion in Publishers Weekly, and General Content in USA Today. Finally the New York Times changed The Travelers Gift to its Advice list, back to Fiction, and lastly to the Business list, where it stayed for seventeen weeks.

I was not really surprised by the confusion. Twenty-five years of researching these Seven Decisions have not made them easier for me to label. They do, however, prove their value every time I personally put one to work or observe them in the lives of others.

Can you imagine? Every single time I have harnessed or watched someone harness these decisions, they work! Why? Because theyre principles... and principles always work.

What you are about to read is not a work based on seven ideas or seven theories. These are not seven habits. They arent even mine! I didnt invent or discover them. I merely identified them and have spent more than twenty-five years of personal research proving their value. So as you read, be aware that principles work every timeand they work whether you know them or not.

I have come to the conclusion that the principles of personal successparenting, relationships, financial achievementare floating around just like the principle of gravity. Therefore, why shouldnt we learn them and harness them to create the future of our choosing?

Get ready to have fun... and lets get started!

Andy Andrews

Orange Beach, Alabama

I n The Travelers Gift, the main protagonist, David Ponder, finds himself in a difficult predicament: hes lost his job, his twelve-year-old daughter is sick, and he cant afford to pay for treatment. After a devastating car crash, Ponder is teleported to an adventure of discovery where he meets seven prominent historical figures, each of whom gives Ponder a separate decision he can make that will change his life.

Were not all so fortunate to be offered an escape from the pain and drama of life. I know I wasnt. I grew up in a typical middle-class familymy parents loved me, I loved them, and life was great... until I turned nineteen. Then, in a one-two punch that sent me reeling, my mom died of cancer and my dad was killed in a car accident.

Obviously, I was devastated. My confusion and grief quickly turned into anger. I didnt have a lot of extended family or friends to lean on for support; therefore I managed to take a terrible situation and make it infinitely worse. Because I was filled with bitterness and unanswerable questions, a series of bad choices led me to a life of homelessness (at least a decade before homeless was even a word). No one from whom to borrow fifty dollars, no house, no car, no job, and, seemingly, no future. You can read much more about this journey in my book The Noticer.

Often spending nights under the state pier in my newly adopted hometown of Gulf Shores, Alabama, and in and out of the garages of unknowing homeowners, I bitterly remembered an old adage from childhood: God will put a man after His own heart where He wants him to be. I remember thinking, Thanks. You put me under a pier.

Feeling desperate and helpless, I couldnt shake this one question, and it relentlessly plagued my mind: Is life just a lottery ticket?

How does person A end up with a healthy family and a job he loves, while person B ends up living under a pier? Does life come down to the luck of the draw? If life is indeed a lottery ticket, I thought, and this is my ticket, perhaps I might just quit. These were my first thoughts of suicide.

Man, I would have felt lucky to be teleported somewhere... anywhere! Instead, I was doing odd jobs, like cleaning fish and washing boats, and I had a lot of time on my hands that I often passed at the library. My free library card was my ticket to a new dimensiona world of endless possibilities, filled with extraordinary heroes from all walks of life.