The key ideas

The Seven Decisions: Understanding the Keys to Personal Success

Andy Andrews, 2008

A man loses his job, his money and his faith in himself. Then, in a single night, he meets seven great people from different eras. Each of them hands him one decision they lived by. Andy Andrews noticed that the people who changed history thought in strikingly similar ways when times were hard. This book shows you seven of those decisions and makes the case that anyone can make them.

Who it is for

For anyone who feels stuck and is tired of waiting for the right moment. And for anyone who wants to understand which decisions set apart the people who changed their lives from the ones who stayed where they were.

First we make our choices. Then our choices make us.

What the book is about

Picture a man who, in a single day, lost his job, his money and his faith in himself. He gets into his car and has no idea why he should keep going. This is the hero the book starts with. Then something strange happens to him: he seems to fall through time into different eras and meets seven great people, from King Solomon to President Lincoln.

Each of them hands him one decision they lived by. Andy Andrews noticed something remarkable. The people who changed history thought in strikingly similar ways at the moments that mattered. Hence the idea behind the book: great people seem to think alike.

This book is not about luck or a special talent. Its main point is that success is built from a few inner decisions that anyone can make. To be honest from the start: this is an inspiring parable and the author's personal system, not a scientific study. But behind each decision is a real human story, and it is easy to see yourself in them.

Ahead are seven decisions: take responsibility, seek wisdom, act, never turn back, choose joy, forgive, and never give up. And a lively conversation about why we so often wait for a perfect moment that never really comes.

Idea 1. Deciding to blame no one gives you back power over your life

The first person the hero meets is the American president Harry Truman. On his desk stood a sign that read "The buck stops here": there is no one left to pass the buck to. Truman made the hardest decisions of his era and never hid behind circumstances.

This gives the author his first decision: I am responsible for my own life. Not my boss, not my parents, not the economy, not bad luck. Andrews does not claim that everything that happened to you is your fault. His point is different: as long as you blame circumstances, you hand them power over your life yourself.

The mistake that keeps people stuck is waiting for others to change. It is comfortable to think things will work out once the boss wises up and the market turns around. But then your life depends on everyone except you.

How to apply: take one problem where you usually blame others, and ask yourself which part of it depends on you personally. Then take one step in exactly that part.

An employee spends a year angry about not being promoted, waiting for the boss to notice on his own. If he instead asks directly what is missing for a promotion, the conversation finally starts to move.

Responsibility is not guilt for the past. It is the power to change something in the present.

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About the author

Andy Andrews is an American writer and speaker, author of the New York Times bestseller The Traveler's Gift. He writes inspiring parables about the decisions that lead a person to success.

All books by this author: Andy Andrews

Terms from the book

  • Lincoln
  • Frank
  • Columbus
  • Gettysburg
  • Solomon
  • seven decisions: The author's system of seven inner decisions that lead to success. It is an inspiring idea of Andrews's, not a scientific theory.
  • Truman: Harry Truman, the thirty-third president of the United States. He was known for taking responsibility for the hardest decisions himself.
  • The buck stops here: The sign on Truman's desk. It means there is no one left to pass the responsibility to: it ends with you.
  • Chamberlain: Joshua Chamberlain, a Union officer in the American Civil War and a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg. Not to be confused with the British politician Neville Chamberlain.
  • Little Round Top: A hill near Gettysburg that Chamberlain's regiment held at the decisive moment of the battle.
  • bayonet: A blade fixed to the end of a rifle for close combat. Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge when his men ran out of ammunition.
  • decided heart: The author's image: the heart of a person who has made a final decision and left no way back. It is Andrews's metaphor, not a scientific term.
  • Civil War: The war between the North and the South of the United States from 1861 to 1865, over slavery and the unity of the country. This is the war meant here.
  • archangel: In religious tradition, an angel of the highest rank who carries God's will. In the book the archangel Gabriel gives the hero the last, seventh decision.
  • Gabriel: The archangel regarded in Judaism, Christianity and Islam as a messenger. For the author he stands for the decision to persist without exception.

All terms

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