“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” – Amelia Earhart
From the time you wake up at the sound of your alarm clock or after the second or third snooze, to what you have for breakfast, what you wear, whether to drive or take the taxi to work, it is all your choice. Where you work, where you worship if you worship, whether you are in shape or overweight, and whom you get married to, it is all your choice. So to evaluate the choices you have made in life so far, take stock of where you are today. Do you like it? Are you as successful as you should and can be? If you are not, know this today, “You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life- And it all begins with your very own power of choice.” Jim Rohn
If you can decide today that you want a better life than what you have, you would have made a life- changing decision. For your life to change though, you first want to identify what it is about your life currently that you are not happy with. Why are you not happy with it? How did you get to this point? What do you need to do to get out of it and where exactly do you want to be? Answering these questions will help you identify what areas of your life need tweaking. This is where some of the topics we have discussed in my previous blogs may become even more helpful.
That you have decided to transform your life does not necessarily mean that things will move smoothly. This is because nothing is guaranteed in life. However, you will be properly guided by your decision to transform your life. You see, making a choice is like sowing a seed. What you sow is what you are going to reap. If you sow procrastination, you are going to reap regret. I have also found out though painfully, that hope does not change a thing. You have to think, set goals, plan, and work on your plans every day to bring about the changes you desire. I recently blogged on goal setting, and how to achieve your goals, you can help yourself to those blogs. Nothing changes if you don’t make the move to change it. Stephen Covey puts it this way, “We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.”
Where you are today is a result of the choices you have made up until this time. That means that where you will be tomorrow will be as a result of the choices you make going forward. Since vision is clearer in hindsight, it means that you should learn from your past mistakes. There is a tendency for people to shy away from what they did wrong or refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes. Some people are even too embarrassed to think about some of the wrong choices they had made. Mistakes are simply lessons that life teaches us along the way. As long as you are alive, you are bound to make mistakes. The most important thing is that you learn from your mistakes. [Look out for my blog on leveraging our mistakes]
Unfortunately, some of us refuse to accept the simple fact that there are no shortcuts in life. Although there are no small or big decisions, there are some major choices. The choice of relocating to another city or state or even another country is major. The choice of remaining at a job or finding another one is major. But some people would rather remain in a job they despise just because they have lived in that place for a long time. If you choose to remain in that city and are unable to find a better job there, then you lose the right to complain about your continued misery at your current job. When you choose to stay put, you choose that misery. In the same fashion, if you choose to spend your money on buying
things that you do not need, you at that point, choose not to save or invest part of your income. When the rainy day comes as it will come, just know that you earned for you the humiliation of going to beg or borrow. Every decision you choose can make a remarkable difference in your life. This is the reason why I am encouraging you to process those options thoroughly before you make that choice. In the third and concluding part of this series, I will reveal the important points you need to focus on as you process your options. They are some of the make or break factors in making choices. I want you to know that you always have a choice. A lot of people have not realized this yet. Unlike other species, the human being does not act on instincts. We make choices. When you embrace the fact that you always have a choice, then you can begin to experience the power of choosing. “Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent, and committed decision” – Anthony Robbins.