The word decide has origins from the Latin word caedere, which in English has the last four words “cide”. It means to cut off or to kill or equivalent. So all the words with the word “cide” in them have some relation to the word to die or to cut off. As an example sui-cide, homi-cide, are also words which mean to cut off or kill or die.

So why start this blog post with such dreary thoughts about cutting off. Its because when you DECIDE some thing, you cut off other things as possible action items. So I have seven items on my plate which I need to finish before the end of the day. But I DECIDE that I will write this blog post first. The moment I decide to write this blog post, I am therefore cutting of other things to be done at this time. I went to the Webster dictionary’s site and then I did a search on google to ensure that I was getting my facts right about the history of the word. But I kept doing things to help me write this blog post and not anything else at this time. I had cut off the other 6 things. After I finish writing this post, I will then have ti Decide which of the remaining 6 things I choose to do next.

So what has this got to do with attaining financial independence.

Well the day you Decide you want to have financial independence ( again I am not talking about being wealthy) you will take steps to invest money. Like the first step I took in 2013 of starting to invest in SIPs of Mutual Funds. There were a lot of other things I could have used that money, but I took that decision and have stuck to the decision ever since.

Similarly, I can keep talking about how compounding can help you grow, how Asset allocation needs to be done or how you should ensure your student loan gets cleared out at the earliest. But till the day you decide to do something about it, it’s all talk no action. You need to take action and decide to walk the talk.

The decision is the first step you take to move forward. Not deciding on something is also deciding to let others or circumstances to take the decision on your behalf. Life suddenly passes by and you think back and see so many forks in the road, where if you had taken the decisions life would have gone in a totally different orbit.

While I speak, I have had my own share of being indecisive and I have shared a lot of those instances with you in the blog. But as I have learnt more and more from my experiences, I have stopped talking about the experiences but more about the learning I picked up. In these blog posts I try to share those learnings with you so that you can have a bigger future compared to mine.

There’s no doubt a lot of decisions that you take (or let others take for you) do go wrong. But from each of those which went wrong you could learn something. Once you learn something, it stays with you and you make better decisions in the future.

So decide today that you want to be financially free. And then take actions with small steps by starting some regular systematic investment and in a few years the exponential nature of compounding will help you become financially free.

To your future.

Carpe Diem!!!