Did you know that there are really only two way to live your life?

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You can live at cause or effect. Which one are you doing?

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Or are you sitting there thinking what the heck is she on about this time? 😜

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Let’s visit our good ol’ friend the dictionary to start this explanation.

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‘Cause and effect: Cause and effect is the relationship between two things when one thing makes something else happen.’

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So if we break this down, cause is the ‘thing’ that causes or makes something happen. And ‘effect’ is the direct result of that thing happening.

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So…when I ask you Are you living at cause or effect?, it’s actually quite a deep question and one that I really want you to think about.

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Don’t just answer what you think you SHOULD be doing. Or what you think you WANT to hear. Answer with what you actually are currently doing in life. For many, it will be a big eye opener - and this is a good thing!

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So…are you living at cause or effect?

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In other words, are you the director of your life and you take full responsibility for the outcomes of your life (cause) or is your life the result of other people, circumstances or events? You're just the actor being told what to do. (effect)

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I’m going to give you a minute to think about this carefully…because this simple question can have a MAMMOTH effect on your life.

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For example, Frances didn’t get the job she wanted. She arrived late for her interview and was all flustered and so didn’t perform well and came across as unorganised and unprofessional. Someone else got the job.

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Cause: If you live at cause you’d be thinking, ‘I was late. I could have left the house early to give myself plenty of time because I knew this was an important day. I knew there might be traffic on the road at that time and I could have allowed extra time for that just to be on the safe side. I could also have reminded myself that even if I was late, I am so qualified for this position and I could have still shown them that hiring me is definitely an asset for their company. I will know what to do next time to make sure this doesn’t happen again.’
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Effect: If you live at effect, you might be thinking, ‘That’s so unfair. Why does this always happen to me? Why was there traffic on the one day that was so important to me? I wasn’t flustered or unprofessional. The panel was just so judgemental that because I was late, they already decided I wasn’t getting the job. Why would I want to work for a company like that anyway.’

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Which one resonates with you more? (And remember to be honest with yourself. No one has to know your answer - you can keep it to yourself. 😉)

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Are you living more at cause or at effect?​
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Now, whatever answer you came up with - good! Whatever your answer is, it’s fine! The first step in anything is to acknowledge it. To acknowledge the current truth. The present. The situation. The thing.

Living at Cause

If you said you’re living at cause, this is where you want to be if you want to have control of your life and be in charge of the direction of your life. Now, this comes with a caveat because, as you know, we can never control everything in life.

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You can’t control other people (unless you’re a manipulative trickster 😵). You can’t control most of the external situations. The thing that you CAN control is yourself. How you act and respond in life. What you do and what you don’t do. How you think. The choices you make.

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And THIS is the key to having what you want in life. (I’ll come back to this in a moment. Let’s flip the switch and move to effect.)

Living at Effect

If you live in effect, that’s okay for now because, like I said, in order to deal with something, you need to be aware of it first.

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If you’ve realised you’re living at effect, well done for identifying it and for being brave enough to admit it. (Hey, I used to be there too!)

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Admitting that you live at effect means you’re allowing others to control how your life goes. It means you are giving your power away - away to other people, situations and circumstances. And, of course, you are free to do that, but while you are free to do that, doing it takes away your freedom. Ironic. Essentially what it means is that you don’t get to choose how your life goes and that your life’s outcomes aren’t up to you. That it’s all in the hands of someone or something else.

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As you might have guessed, this isn’t fun. This isn’t going to get you what you want. This is only going to keep you stuck in the ‘I feel sorry for myself’ mode and in what society likes to call victim mentality. Victim mentality is all about believing that you have no control over what happens to you in life and that the world is against you. That whatever happens is someone or something else’s fault or doing.

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Now that I’ve hopefully painted a clear picture of the two ways of living your life, can you see how the different ways of thinking can have a profound effect on your life and how you feel in it?

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If you think that everything that happens to you is because of someone else, you might as well stop trying because it’s not up to you anyways. Right?

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However, if you take personal responsibility for your own life and the things that happen or don’t happen, then you understand that you have control over the choices you make and how you respond to people and situations in life. The big clincher is that you realise your potential in life and that YOU are in the driver’s seat and if you want something, YOU can make it happen.

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Life doesn’t happen TO you. It happens FOR you.

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So, I've already asked you how you are currently living your life. But what I really wanna know is how do you WANT to live your life?

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With you in the driver’s seat or just pootling along in the passenger seat?

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I recommend the former. 🤩

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