Outcome-Based Decision Making

Living According to Things as They Really Are

Most of us discover—usually the hard way—that life doesn’t simply “work out” because we hope it will. We try, we plan, we improvise, we pray, and yet things don’t unfold the way we expected. People disappoint us. Circumstances shift. Our best intentions often fail to yield the outcomes we hoped for.

And somewhere along the way, each of us learns a quiet but sobering truth: life responds to reality, not to wishes. No matter how sincere or well-meaning we may be, we cannot build peace, joy, or spiritual confidence upon misunderstandings, assumptions, or comforting illusions.

But this realization doesn’t have to be bleak. In fact, it is liberating. Because if outcomes are tied to real laws, real principles, and real patterns, then life becomes navigable. The chaos becomes understandable. Our choices gain meaning. And we begin to see that God is not arbitrary—His universe is structured, purposeful, and consistent.

Outcome-based decision-making, then, is not about being harsh, rigid, or “hyper-rational.” It is about learning to live in harmony with the way God has actually designed the world—and discovering that He has embedded wisdom, stability, and even joy into the very fabric of reality, and the very essence of the gospel.

This perspective helps us make sense of our past, gives us courage for the present, and offers hope for our future. By aligning ourselves with truth—things as they really are, and as they really will be—we open the door to better outcomes, deeper peace, and a kind of spiritual clarity that cannot be shaken by circumstance.

Ultimately, as we learn how to employ the principles of the gospel in utilizing deliberate outcome-based decision-making, we find ourselves suddenly experiencing the greatest and highest blessings of the gospel. This is what we want. Or at least, this is what we should want. Otherwise, we are just spinning our wheels, without traction or movement in a favorable direction.

With that foundation in place, we can now explore how truth, discernment, and responsibility shape every outcome in mortality, and how walking in the light transforms not only what we experience, but who we become.

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I. Truth as Reality: “Things as They Really Are”

The Book of Mormon defines truth as “things as they really are, and as they really will be” (Jacob 4:13). Notice the starkness of that. Truth does not mean the version of events, or the version of reality, that makes you feel good. It does not mean the narrative you were raised with. It does not mean the emotional interpretation that gives you permission to avoid repentance.

Truth is simply what is.

This is why the wicked always hate truth. Truth exposes them. Truth dismantles their fantasies. Truth refuses to bow to their preferences or illusions.

People do not reject truth because it is hard to understand. They reject it because it is hard to face.

But reality remains unmoved and unaffected by wishful thinking.

Your outcomes in life will always hinge on what you and others do with the circumstances surrounding you.

II. The Catastrophe of Self-Deception

Dishonesty is any deviation from what God has made known to you.

Self-deception is the result of dishonesty. And dishonesty, by and large, is the result of emotional thinking.

Emotional thinkers do not discern truth because they are not trying to discern truth; instead, they are trying to justify and gratify their feelings and desires.

This is the tragedy of the natural man. He doesn’t want truth; he wants permission. He wants results that align with his desires. He wants a belief system that gratifies his impulses and quiets his fears. He wants a theology that excuses his laziness and a morality that excuses his lust.

Self-deception is not an accidental misreading of reality; it is a moral choice. It is the intellect placing itself in the mode of rationalizing sin rather than exposing it. The mind becomes the lawyer of the flesh rather than the humble seeker of truth.

When a man chooses to blind himself, God honors his agency. The light withdraws. The mind darkens. The heart hardens. And the man suffers—not because God abandoned him, but because he abandoned reality.

III. Perception: The Instrument of Salvation

Outcome-based living is not driven by positivity or ambition. It is driven by accurate and honest perception—by learning to see things as they truly are.

The key elements of accurate perception include:

seeing your motives without flattering yourself
seeing your sins without minimizing them
seeing your strengths without exaggerating them
seeing other people without projecting your fears or faults on them
seeing commandments as binding laws for improvement, not suggestions
seeing consequences based on choices and actions before they arrive

Dependable discernment requires honest evaluation grounded in reality, not wishful thinking, bias, or emotion. Emotion is real and often even reasoned, but it is not a reliable basis for rational decision-making.

The rational mind must counter the self-defeating tendencies that emotional reasoning often brings by developing and strengthening those thought processes and behaviors that compel greater honesty, humility, patience, long-suffering, and Christ-like love.

Mighty faith in Christ comes by hearing the word of God, believing the word of God, and acting accordingly.

By continuously feasting upon the words of Christ, we are, again and again, reminded not to be defensive, easily offended, proud, self-serving, selfish, egocentric, fearful, hateful, or resentful. Instead, we are reminded that whom the Lord loves He chastens. And that we ought to be willing to submit to the Lord in all things, as a child submits to his parents.

Alignment with the Spirit of God through hearing, believing, and heeding the word of God clarifies our perception and fills us with wisdom. When we neglect these things, we grow increasingly foolish, weak, corrupt, proud, fearful, self-serving, and intrinsically sinful by nature.

IV. Responsibility: The Foundation of All Outcomes

Weare all responsible for what we become and the outcomes we receive.

We should all note that the scriptures do not praise passive or dismissive men. God does not reward emotional thinkers. God does not exalt those who outsource their thinking, their discernment, their conscience, or their eternal destiny.

Outcome-based decision-making requires radical personal responsibility. You must confront your life, your sins, your fears, your assumptions, your habits, your excuses, and your outcomes with ruthless honesty. You cannot blame your leaders, your upbringing, your culture, your church, or your spouse. You cannot blame God.

Holiness is impossible for those who refuse responsibility.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the call to holiness. How we respond to this call by keeping God’s commandments is our own individual responsibility.

V. Walking in Light: The Scriptures as the Map, the Spirit as the Compass

Outcome-based living requires accurate situational awareness, a clear understanding, properly prioritizing tasks, and clear judgment. God has given us many tools for this, but the two most important ones are the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.

1. The Holy Scriptures: God’s Revealed Map of Reality

The Holy Scriptures (including The Book of Mormon) do not simply tell stories; they reveal how reality works. And not just that, they reveal how the gospel of Jesus Christ works by revealing correct principles, laws, doctrines, commandments, and promised blessings. In short, they reveal:

What choices lead to joy and what lead to misery
How nations rise or fall
How families flourish or decay
How righteousness exalts and how wickedness destroys
How spiritual power is gained or lost

When how you live your life diverges from what the Holy Scriptures reveal, you are not being innovative—you are being deceived.

2. The Holy Spirit: God’s Active Guidance

Truth is revealed by God through the Holy Spirit. As we faithfully receive and apply the truth He reveals, the more He reveals. Accordingly, increased guidance results from consistent obedience to God.

The Holy Spirit is the ultimate revealer of truth. It is the Holy Spirit that enables comprehension, reveals reality, and enables application and correlation of truth.

Learning new truth is not merely a matter of intellect, emotion, or social consensus. It is a fundamentally spiritual process. This process is enhanced through obedience to divine law and increased righteousness. As we give greater heed and diligence to what the Spirit reveals, the Spirit increasingly enlightens the mind, pierces self-deception, and reveals what is true, false, sufficient, or lacking. This revelation is diagnostic. It exposes faulty assumptions and unmasks false narratives, allowing decisions to be made on the basis of truth rather than desire, fear, or social pressure.

The Holy Spirit functions as a guide in decision-making. Scriptural language emphasizes being “led,” “directed,” and “shown what ye should do,” indicating that the Spirit operates prospectively as well as retrospectively. He does not simply comfort after a choice is made; He informs judgment beforehand and confirms or unsettles the conscience afterward based on the prospective results. When humble individuals seek counsel of the Lord, the Spirit increases perception, corrects mistakes and misunderstandings, and suggests a corrective or more favorable course of action.

The Holy Spirit enables outcome-based discernment by teaching individuals to judge decisions by their fruits and long-term results rather than by stated motives. Scripture repeatedly warns that good intentions alone do not produce the best outcomes. The Holy Spirit, therefore, trains the faithful to ask sober questions: Does this decision reflect greater humility, clarity, charity, and obedience? Does it align with increased light, or does it excuse compromise? Does it lead to greater confidence and standing before God, or does it insulate one from truth? Does this action or decision lead to the best value, best benefit, or best outcome?

Through this process, by honestly asking and answering such questions, wisdom becomes cumulative, and the Spirit becomes dominant.

Decisions that align with the Spirit yield the best results, including peace, coherence, and increased capacity to receive truth; decisions that resist Him result in diminished or less desirable results, including confusion, fragmentation, agitation, misery, and diminished discernment.

The Spirit regulates access to further light based on how opportunities to do good are handled. Those who respond faithfully to revealed truth, even when it is costly, are entrusted with more. Those who rationalize poor outcomes, ignore warnings, or cling to comforting illusions receive less. This principle establishes a moral feedback loop: obedience sharpens discernment; rebellion dulls it. In this way, the Spirit encourages the faithful to stay on wisdom’s path not by removing risk, sorrow, or opposition, but by refining judgment through lived consequences.

In sum, the Holy Spirit is God’s appointed means of channeling truth and enabling comprehension based on faithfulness and merit. As we faithfully receive and apply the inspiration and revelations of God in our lives, we receive more, and our outcome-based decision-making bears precious fruit that would have been impossible to obtain otherwise.

VI. Joy: The Benefits of Outcome-Based Decision-Making

Joy is not merely an emotion or feeling. It is not pleasure. It is not entertainment, leisure, or comfort. Joy is what happens when your life, your character, your desires, and your actions become aligned with eternal law.

Joy is the natural byproduct of:

living honestly
repenting fully
reasoning righteously
walking in the Spirit
honoring God
obeying the commandments
abandoning illusions

This is why misery is also predictable. Misery is simply the collision between illusion and reality. When your expectations, fantasies, beliefs, or desires contradict how the universe actually works and what is actually real, you will experience confusion, frustration, and pain.

One of the biggest mistakes we make is seeking joy and happiness directly, based on what we think will make us feel good, as soon as possible. We seek pleasure in ways that will cost the least but gain us the most. And we seek happiness in physical and materialistic ways. We seek happiness through entertainment, thrills, and sensationalism. This is a mistake for two reasons:

This indicates unwise short-term thinking.
This ignores and rejects the explicit and implicit doctrines of the gospel that teach us that joy comes through obedience to spiritual laws.

Our happiness and joy, now and in eternity, are predicated upon righteousness.

The righteousness that God demonstrates does not include materialistic or object-oriented pleasure seeking.

The righteousness that God demonstrates is centered in Christ-like love, service, using our time and talents wisely, personal improvement, and perfecting in ourselves all the attributes of godliness. These are the values and purposes of God as manifest in all of His teachings and commandments.

As we live lives centered on these divine purposes, we are filled with joy. As we deviate from these things, we reap the whirlwind.

VII. The Danger of Lies and the Death of Discernment

Satan does not need you to worship him. He only needs you to believe one falsehood deeply enough that you reorganize your life around it. Every lie believed—no matter how small—distorts your perception, alters your reasoning, reshapes your desires, and sabotages your outcomes.

This is why the adversary focuses not on sin initially, but on narrative. If he can shape your interpretation of reality, he can shape your destiny. Lies are the raw material of bondage.

One of the most significant problems we face is that, by nature, we don’t really love truth; we love convenience.

In a previous essay, I wrote: “The moment you stop loving truth, you start losing the capacity to recognize it.”

When we prioritize convenience, defending our pride, and gratifying our passions over the truth, we become emotionally incentivized to disregard the truth, even when it appears before us as bright as day.

This is one of the most defining characteristics of spiritual death. To reject truth is death. To receive truth is life everlasting.

Just to recap, when men stop loving truth:

they lose discernment
they embrace emotional reasoning
they grow hostile to correction
they rewrite doctrine to fit their reasoning
they rationalize and worship sin
they demonize righteousness
they descend into spiritual darkness and confusion

And all too often, they call evil good, and good evil.

Outcome-based living is predicated on living a truth-based life. This ceases the moment we embrace deception.

Conclusion: The Narrow Path to the Tree of Life

Outcome-based decision-making is centered on achieving the best long-term value, benefits, and outcomes.

This type of decision-making is disastrously undermined by unchecked emotional thinking, which is not continuously corrected by righteous reasoning.

As far as I know, there is only one way to achieve this. One must reset one’s default mode to honest and sincere prayer and meditation. When you are not busy doing the things you need to be doing, when you are at rest, when you have downtime, your default mode needs to be one of communion with God. He is the only one capable of channeling and enabling such a high degree of goodness into your soul. God is the source of all righteous reasoning.

Without a steady and secure connection with the Holy Spirit of God (which is only achieved through high-potency prayer, meditation, and by keeping all of the commandments), we become hopelessly emotional, irrational, and proud. In this condition, in this state of nature, we find that genuine outcome-based decision-making is impossible.

“But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:10, NIV)

True outcome-based decision-making, as described here, constitutes the straight and narrow path leading to the Tree of Life. This path is defined by the way of Truth and Righteousness as demonstrated by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and as continuously displayed, heard, and felt by clasping tightly to the Iron Rod, which is the Word of God.

The grand “Outcome” we should desire is the Kingdom of God, the Tree of Life, and the eternal reward of Eternal Life, which is characterized by receiving a Fullness of Joy, among other things.

As far as I can tell, everyone wants more joy than they presently have. In fact, we all want much more joy than we presently have. This is the way. This is the path. May we all have the wisdom and the grit to walk this path, is my prayer, Amen!