What's the smartest decision you have ever made in your life?

Goldengate8361 · ‎01-27-2014

........apart from marrying your spouse and having children, what has been the best decision you've ever made? For me, it was continuing my education. I have a couple of advanced degrees and that has made a HUGE difference in my life and the opportunities that opened up to me. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts....

(please respond with something other than marrying your spouse or having children.....to make this more interesting and enlightening for us all....)

brewhaha · ‎07-25-2010

Joining this forum.

TuesdayTaylor · ‎11-02-2010

Getting baptized.

tansy · ‎01-02-2011

Ruling out the husband and sons, I'd say making the move from California to Washington for many reasons.

Burnsite · ‎03-10-2010

I had a choice of four jobs in 1985, one of which was in the NYC area (I then lived in Manhattan and didn't want to leave). The others were scattered around the country.

My smartest decision was to go with my gut instincts about the people I would be working with at all four places. I chose FL even though I knew nothing about it; I do know about my profession, though, and that place seemed the best. And I have been happy there for quite a while.

The position near Manhattan would have had a punishing work schedule; the other two that I didn't pick had tyrants in place controlling everybody.

I guess I think of this as an especially good choice because it had holding power for so many years. I like to move around, and never thought I would be happy for so long in the same place.

NoelSeven · ‎03-09-2010

@Goldengate8361 wrote:
........apart from marrying your spouse and having children, what has been the best decision you've ever made? For me, it was continuing my education. I have a couple of advanced degrees and that has made a HUGE difference in my life and the opportunities that opened up to me. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts....

*********************

Mine was the same as yours, and I did it all myself. Worked my way through undergrad, graduate and post post graduate. No loans, either, two jobs at the same time, plus a full class load.

It wasn't easy, but I made it work. I didn't live at home, I lived with roommates and paid for my own living expenses.

I don't think that can be done today. Rent and the cost of living are too high, so are textbooks.

A Thrill Of Hope The Weary World Rejoices

LilacTree · ‎03-25-2012

Joining the firm's Long Term Health Care plan when I was still hale and healthy in my early 50's. I would be lost without those benefits now.

Formerly Ford1224
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel 1986

birkin baby · ‎01-20-2011

Law school and weight loss surgery.....

hckynutjohn · ‎06-15-2015

Deciding at age 30, in 1969, to completely change my lifestyle. Started working on my physical fitness and health. Made my life and everything I have done since much easier. Had I not made that decision I believe I would have died on July 5, 2003.

hckynut(john)

sfnative · ‎03-10-2010

During a Christmas party, I was approached by our most difficult department head and wondered, "Oh ****, what's up?"

He got right to the point, asking me if I wanted to Direct the Surgical Training operations at the hospital. And, by the way, you have 30 minutes to make this decision.

I left the party and headed outside to sit down and think about the position, of which I knew next to nothing, though knew my grounding in 8 of 12 surgical services was OK and that my grasp of anatomy was where it needed to be, when conversing with physicians. So, I accepted the offer and what was to follow was a professional journey that was sometimes so frustrating I could scream. However, my "customers," all physicians, were highly complimentary, so I knew that with my initial degree in education,followed by nursing and event planning background, I had been blessed with a niche position few could fathom. (And my metrics went hand-in-hand with this.)

Once I made it to YouTube, folks at the hospital told me "You're famous!" No, I'm a driven, hard-working woman who grabbed at this opportunity and increased man-hours of training to 8,000 per annum, out of the dust of my predecessor.

Edited to add that I knew a salary raise would come along with this new positon, which was enormously important to me, as my husband had been out of work at that point for 7 of the last 10 years (high tech). We really needed that extra income. Had already lost our home. In the end, it made the difference of an additional $35,000 per annum, which I would not have had had I remained in clinical research.