Are our lives completely predetermined?

[Doug31]

I didn't used to think life was predetermined, but now I do. The way I see it, if everything suddenly went back in time, and we did today all over again, with everything just how it was at the beginning of the day, then wouldn't everyone do the exact same things, so it would wind up the exact same way again? To me, this means that there's really only one way things can happen.

Even with believing this, I also think no one should let if affect how they do things. I don't know how to explain this very well, but not doing something the way you really think it should be done just because you think it's predetermined is not the road to success. I know of someone that could be successful, but is failing. You know why? Because he thinks that's his destiny. My mom has tried to tell him how to succeed, but refuses to change his ways, since he just thinks he should follow what he's currently doing, and if he fails, then it was his destiny to fail.