Many of us buy that if we can dream something, we can attain it. We believe that our potential is limitless and that we are meant for greater things. Why then do most of us live the same life, or variations of it, year after year?

For instance, how many diets have you been on? How long have you carried your debts? How long have you been in the same job that you hate? Is your dream vacation still just that? Are you making music, planting that garden, or spending time on whatever pastime it is that fulfills you?

I’ve been aware lately of just how many decisions we make in the average day. Most of them are over very little things. For instance one of the first decisions we make is whether we’re going to get out of bed in the morning and how many times to hit the snooze button before we do. Before we even leave the house, on an average morning we’ve decided if we’re taking a shower or if we can get by without, whether to shave or not. We choose clothes and then shoes and accessories to go with them. Are we going to eat a healthy breakfast or skip it, or get a doughnut when we stop for coffee? Sometimes we decide to thaw something for dinner or quickly throw a load of clothes in the washer. Many of us intend to exercise each morning; that’s another decision. Kids and pets add even more choices to the mix. Just think of how many decisions you’ve made in the last 24 hours and multiply it by the weeks, months and years you’ve been living.

I do think it is our thoughts and emotions that create reality. They do it through the small decisions we make every day. Dreams remain good intentions until we put legs to them by making decisions that support them. Very simple; not so easy. We make good starts—sometimes great starts—and then just sort of get off track, wondering months later just what happened.

Many of the decisions we make are automatic. We are such a habit prone people that most choices are made without much conscious thought. In addition to our own habits, we also have to deal with the habits formed by our nationality, our religion, our ethnic background, our gender, and our economic level. To make a truly conscious decision, we have to see through all that and get a clear look at things. While it just seems easier to live life on auto pilot, living a boring settled-for life is no bargain.

When we want to manifest a desire, we usually focus on it. We define it, we claim it, we ask others to hold it in prayer for us, we feel gratitude for it. Then we space on the very decisions that its existence relies on, or sabotage ourselves by making bad choices and convincing ourselves that it really doesn’t matter. These unconscious or habitual choices reflect who we are now. Making new conscious decisions not only get us what we desire, they transform us into the people we wish to be.