Power of Choice: You don’t have to accept your life as it is. You have the power to make better choices. Choices are not always between good and bad, but instead between good and better.
The hardest choice is between two good choices. That’s why It is important to get clear about what you value in each Area of Balance. What do you value with regards to your health, what about your relationships, what do you value in your work, etc. Take time monthly to evaluate each area of balance.
You are happier when your choices reflect your goals and values.
Ask yourself, what are you accepting that isn’t working? What different choice could you make?
- There is power in choosing: The best choice available to you (Take time to weigh the pros and cons of your choices. I like a quote in this month’s planner by Dr Kathleen Hall. “In every single thing you do, you are choosing a direction. Your life is a product of choices.”
- There is power in choosing: What you allow into your mind (Be selective in what you choose to read, watch, and surround yourself).
- There is power in choosing: What you think Become aware of any limiting thoughts. You really do move in the direction of your dominant thoughts. Choose to look for the good, even when things don’t go as expected.
Last summer our son and his family decided to go to California to go to Disneyland and invited us to come down. We decided to make the 9 hour drive. We loaded up our vehicle and started out. We hadn’t even gotten an hour out of town when our vehicle started to shake. Clearly something was wrong. We happened to be right by an exit, but it was a smaller town and we doubted there would be anyone who could fix it. However, when we drove off the exit, there happened to be a mechanics shop close by. They were able to diagnose the problem. The driveshaft u joint had come apart. We hung around in the mechanic shop for several hours while they made the repair, but we were eventually on our way again.
We traveled another 3 hours and were coming up on St. George, Utah when my husband looked over at me, eyes wide and mouthed, “the breaks are soft.” He was losing breaking power. Fortunately, again, we were close to an exit. He got off, and using his emergency break, made it to a gas station. When we looked under the vehicle, break fluid was pouring out. We could see a trail of break fluid we had left. It turns out that while making the u-joint repair, the mechanic accidently nicked the break line. By this time, it was around 7:30 pm, and there weren’t any mechanic shops still open, but we looked across the street, and there was an auto zone. We made our way over to Auto Zone. My husband started on the task of replacing the break line, and my daughters and I walked down the street to KFC and brought back dinner. This was not a fun repair. My husband was under the vehicle, laying in break fluid. The break fluid destroyed his shirt and phone case, but he got it done. It was after 9:30 pm now, and we still had more than 5 hours drive ahead, but we got back on the road. We had almost made it to our destination at around 3:00 am when some police with lights flashing, with no explanation closed the freeway. We sat there for almost 2 hours with drivers in surrounding cars loudly cursing and complaining. Fortunately our daughters slept through the whole thing. By the time we made it, it was about time to get changed and head over to our son’s hotel for breakfast, then off to Disneyland. Despite almost no sleep, we had a great day at Disneyland and stayed until closing time.
The next day, we went to the beach. My husband had brought his glasses case to put his glasses in while in the ocean, but he completely forgot and as he dove into the ocean, his glasses were swept away in the surf. He really needs his glasses to drive or anything, and we were really bummed, but then we thought, what are the chances that the glasses case he grabbed might have a spare pair of glasses. We checked, and to our amazement, his spare glasses were there.
There was the option of looking at this trip as a complete fail. We had car problems, twice, no sleep, lost glasses. We could have thought of this as the worst trip ever. However, we thought, wasn’t it amazing that when we broke down the first time, it was right by an exit that had a mechanic that could fix the problem (even if he did nick the break line). And when we broke down the second time, it was again right by an exit that had an auto zone close by, that my husband had the habit of always putting his tools in the back of the vehicle when we go on a road trip, and that it was summer time and still light until after 9 PM so he could have enough daylight to fix it, and he knew how to do it. Just past St. George on the way to California you drive through the Virgin River Canyon which is a very scary place to have a breakdown because there are sheer cliffs and few places to pull off the road if you have a problem. There is power in choosing: Who you spend time with? There is a famous quote by Jim Rohn that says “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” ― Jim Rohn
- There is power in choosing: What you do with your time. Live intentionally. Carve out time to set goals, and plan. The Success Choice Planner is a great goal-setting and planning tool.
- There is power in choosing: To take ownership of the consequences of your choices, whether positive or negative. Resist the urge to habitually react.
Consequences of choices are not always immediate; consider your goals and the long-term effects of a choice.
One thing we have always tried to teach our kids is “you may not know exactly what you want right now, what career, whether to go to college, etc. You don’t have to know exactly what you want now, but be careful not to close doors for yourself. For example: Always do your best in school so the option of school is an option should you decide to choose that, and if you decide to change jobs, leave on good terms.
Pause and think before making a choice. Choose wisely.
Remember to focus on progress, not perfection. Keep learning from mistakes.
This month I challenge you to think about the choices you are making, the results you are getting, and what you want to change. You have the power to make different, better choices.