When it comes right down to it, almost everything is a choice. Every single minute, we have choices in life. This is both a great truth and a hard lesson because it reminds us of our own power. Not power over others, but the hidden, untapped power to be our best and live out our dreams.
We are born with the power to manifest our future. It isn’t fate that determines our future. Our future is determined by the choices we make, don’t make, or leave for others to make for us. If we don’t like the present we are living, we can create a new one – the power is ours.
Future success is not the result of just one monumental decision. It is the result of a continuous series of choices every day. Those choices don’t just impact the moment, they echo throughout our professional and personal lives.
Some may say that we don’t choose our circumstances. However, we have more power over circumstances than we care to admit. Even if circumstances are thrust upon us, we choose how we respond to them. Some of the most inspiring stories are of those who overcame and chose to become successful.
Do you often find yourself thinking “I want to be successful” yet feel like you’re working too hard to achieve it? Are you successful on paper yet feel unfulfilled in life? Do you often work hard to achieve your goals, and then wonder why you’re not happy once you successfully achieve them?
If this is you, you’re not alone. In my experience, many high-achieving professionals constantly hustle and push themselves only to find themselves successfully unhappy.
” Success Isn’t Just About Achievement.Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself. “
Most of us define success based purely on achieving something – and it’s often based on status and/or money.
I used to think success was about doing and having “it all” and by hustling through the tough times. Like many people, I figured that eventually I’d get to where I wanted to be and finally find happiness. But unfortunately, after hustling for several years and finding myself feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and incredibly unhappy, I realized that success wasn’t what I originally thought it was. Because, although others considered me “successful”, I didn’t feel it.
The truth is: you can work hard and amass all the money in the world, be the leading expert in your field, and be thought of as successful by others. . . yet feel empty inside. That’s not success.
Being successful means that you feel like a success. If you don’t feel successful, then you’re not. Success isn’t just about achievement. The key to success starts with how you define it and how you choose to live your version of success.
Please note: I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have goals or work hard for them. Instead, I’m telling you that you’ll never feel good about your success if you don’t set the right foundation, regardless of how hard you work.
It’s time to redefine what success means to you, in a way that serves you better.
Your choices won’t always guarantee you success, but they will open the door, and each choice you make after that opens the door just a little bit wider. Success will never walk in if you don’t open that door and put out the welcome mat. It’s your choice.
Whether you’re selling them as an entrepreneur, marketer, writer, or any other kind of knowledge worker, or facing a serious crossroads in your personal life, the choices you make today define your future.
So it’s no wonder that when it comes to our growth and success, few skills are more important than the ability to make good decisions.
As Nobel-prize winning economist Milton Friedman wrote: “The best measure of quality thinking is your ability to accurately predict the consequences of your ideas and subsequent actions.”
Far from being sources of agony and dread, hard choices are precious opportunities for us to celebrate what is special about the human condition, that the reasons that govern our choices as correct or incorrect sometimes run out, and it is here, in the space of hard choices, that we have the power to create reasons for ourselves to become the distinctive people that we are.
It’s impossible to know whether the choice you’re making is 100% right. Instead of feeling powerless, remember that your gut can be just as powerful a reason to make a choice as all the research, data, and opinions you’ve already gathered.
Trivial decisions like what shirt to wear or what brand of toothpaste to buy may be easy enough to make—though some of us spend hours on research to make those decisions. It’s the gray area problems that are the hardest to resolve—ones where despite all the research you’ve done and experts you’ve spoken to, the answer is still unclear. Problems where it’s up to you, your experiences, and that pesky gut feeling to decide what is the best course of action.
Questions like: Should I take this job? Should I move to [place]? Should I marry [person]? Should I tell so-and-so about such-and-such secrets? Pivotal questions that are difficult and risky to answer.
So how do you put yourself in the best position when faced with hard decisions?
