God has given each one of us a destiny to fulfill. Learning to live life with a sense of destiny is life transforming and glorious. Jesus lived His destiny and you and I are called to live ours. It will take trust.

The whole concept of destiny can be very disturbing. Why? It requires trust!

Destiny refers to a course of events that are predetermined. It may be thought of as a future predetermined, whether individually or generally. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the universe (laws). To predestine is to fix upon, decide, or decree in advance; to foreordain or elect by divine will or decree.

I have identified 7 principles for destiny discovery and fulfillment.

1.You have a God-given destiny – Life has meaning because God has made you for something. The purpose of life is to reach for that unique calling (Ephesians 2:10) NKJV – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

1A – Your destiny requires your cooperation – your destiny will require your cooperation in making God led choices.

2.God designed you uniquely for your destiny – Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” You were specially designed for your destiny –your task was not an afterthought by God – it springs out of your personality, gifts, and the way you are made. When you are walking in your destiny, it fits like a glove. The desires of your heart reflect God’s purpose for your life (Ps 37:4) – Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

3.Destiny is something you are, not something you do – It is not a predetermined, etched in stone endpoint that you can miss; but a dynamic, ever developing interplay between what we were born to be and what you have done with your life so far. The more you become who you were made to be, the more you will do what you were born to do (Eph 1:4-5) – just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

4.Your whole life prepares you for your destiny – very event and circumstance has meaning, because God leverages each experience to help you accomplish His purpose for your life. The refining transforms you into the image of Christ and prepares you to be part of His bride – (Rom 8:28) – And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

5.Your destiny is bigger than you – Our ultimate fulfillment comes not from pursuing happiness for ourselves, but from bringing life to others for the sake of the Kingdom. If your dream doesn’t involve serving others in a way that stretches you way beyond your limits, then it is not big enough. It really is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35) – I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

6.You must die to fulfill your destiny – While God’s desire is that we live an abundant life, a direct pursuit of happiness can never reach it. True joy only comes through a sacrificial death to self and a fundamental realignment of our wills with God’s purposes. Only those who lose their life will truly find it – (John 12:24-25) – Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

7.Living your destiny brings productivity and fulfillment – When you do what you were born to do, you function with maximum effectiveness and exceptional joy in the doing. (flow) Having fun without serving productively does not satisfy. Producing fruit without joy in the process is soul deadening and does not satisfy. Productivity with fulfillment is the symptom of a life aligned with destiny (3 John 1:2-4) – Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Decision Making Traps Traps

Are you working in an organization where leaders are good at making decisions? Are the leaders in your organization able to frame problems to develop effective solutions?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask oneself is Do I make good decisions or fall into psychological traps? Inspiring leaders with good judgment make good decisions.

Are you able to avoid faulty thinking? Do you distort your reasoning ability? Are you able to make better decisions by being aware of your biases?

Before making an important decision, prudent managers evaluate the situations confronting them. They often fall into one of the eight traps of faulty thinking. Some managers are too optimistic and overconfident: They overestimate success and underestimate the range of potential outcomes. On the flipside, other managers are cautious to a fault: They take costly steps to defend against unlikely outcomes.

These are just two of the well-documented psychological traps that ensnare most managers at some point in their careers. Other pitfalls that distort our reasoning abilities and cater to our biases are identified in the classic 1998 Harvard Business Review article The Hidden Traps in Decision Making, by John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney and Howard Raiffa:

• We have a tendency to stick with the status quo.

• We only look for evidence that confirms our preferences.

• We are likely to throw good money after bad to defend our position and avoid admitting a mistake.

The way a problem is framed can influence how you develop solutions. To avoid this trap, you need to reframe the question in various ways to see how your thinking may change based on each version.

It is not always possible to avoid the distortions ingrained in the way our minds work, but we can build in tests to make our decision-making processes more reliable, thus improving the quality of the choices we make.

The Brain Science of Decisions

The inherent functions of the human brain can sabotage our decisions. It takes enormous energy to consciously work through possibilities and risks, so the brain looks for shortcuts. We use unconscious routines, known as heuristics, to cope with complexity and they normally serve us well. But because they operate largely out of our awareness, they also present traps.

Researchers have identified a series of flaws in the way we think when making decisions. They are hardwired into our thinking process, so we often fail to recognize them. This means they can undermine everything from new product development to acquisitions and divestiture strategy to succession planning.

While we cannot entirely rid ourselves of these ingrained flaws, we can learn to understand the traps and compensate for them. The best defense is awareness.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become a leader who avoids psychological traps and makes good decisions. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of the company.

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Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist, executive coach and trusted

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