The First Step is to Make Some Choices.

Do you like making decisions or do you tend to avoid making decisions? If you have a habit of sitting on the fence then all you'll end up with is splinters in your butt. In order to have a great life you have to make some decisions about what you want to do and have in life.

If you ask kids who are leaving school what they really want to do with their life most of them don't know. That's okay because they are only kids and haven't experienced much of life yet. What is sad is that when most of these kids are 50 years old they still won't know what they really want to do in life because they have avoided the effort required to think about it. They are just floating along with the masses without any planned direction, living the life of Mr. and Mrs. Average.

Life is full of possibility. All you have to do is make a decision what you want your life to be like and then choose to follow that path.

The Second Step is to Become a Player Not a Spectator

Step one suggested that you make choices. The first choice to make in life is to become a player rather than a spectator. A player is someone who takes action in order to affect the outcome in the game. A spectator is someone who is at the mercy of the choices that other people make. If you are a spectator then you get whatever life dishes out whether you like it or not.

Have you ever watched a sporting match where your team is losing? It's frustrating isn't it? You really want your team to win but there is nothing you can do to help. Whether they win or lose has nothing to do with you.

Have you ever felt like that in life? Your life just seems to go along a path that doesn't really inspire you but it all seems to be outside your control. If that is happening to you it is because you are a spectator.

Decide to become a player. Decide do something to effect the outcomes in your life. Life will be a lot more fun if you do.

The Third Step is to Develop Self Discipline.

The key to moving from a spectator to a player is to develop self discipline. All great players, regardless of the sport, have developed self discipline. They need to discipline themselves to learn the skills of the game. They need to discipline themselves to practice those skills and to build up the strength and fitness they require. And most of all they need to discipline themselves to make good decisions when the game is in full swing and the pressure is on.

The game of life is the same. There are skills to learn, strength and fitness to develop and most of all you need the self discipline to do what you have to do when the pressure of life in on you. Self discipline is the key that opens the door to what ever you want in life.

The Fourth Step in Creating a Great Life is to Live With Passion.

How did you get out of bed this morning? Did you jump out with enthusiasm for the day ahead or did you reluctantly drag yourself out?

Life is either a passionate adventure or it's nothing! If you don't have a passion for life then you'd better make finding one your number one priority. Life is short, don't let the opportunity pass you by.

The Fifth Step to a Great Life is to Focus on Beauty and Joy.

What do you tend to see most in life the beauty or the ugliness, the joy or the sorrow, the passion or the hardship, the solutions or the problems, the health or the sickness, the wealth or the poverty, the opportunities or the difficulties, the excitement or the boredom, the rewards or the work, the wins or the losses, the happiness or the sadness. It all comes back to step number one; making a choice.

One of the most powerful universal principles of living is that what you focus on expands. If you focus on the pleasures of being healthy then you will be healthy but if you focus on sickness then you will get sick. If you focus on beauty, joy and passion then your life will be filled with beauty joy and passion but if you focus on ugliness, sorrow and hardship then that is what will expand in your life.

How Are You Playing the Game of Life?

How do you score on the five steps to a great life? Are you a choice maker and a player in the game of life? Do you have the self discipline to follow up on your choices and develop the mental and emotion strength and fitness to be a great player in the game? Do you see the beauty, joy, health, wealth and opportunity that life offers?

The answers to those simple questions determine what your life is like today and what it will be like tomorrow. The choice is yours.