Category Archives: Choices

“The trouble is you think you have time.”

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“The trouble is you think you have time.”

-Author Unknown

Photo from Flickr by Moyan Brenn

Photo from Flickr by Moyan Brenn

It is a proven fact that as we age, we perceive time as moving faster.

In our youth, there was plenty of time to complete everything on our bucket list. Today, that list may seem unrealistic, overwhelming, and even act a source of discouragement or sadness.

If someone told you precisely how much time you had left in days, weeks, months, years, or hopefully, decades, what different choices might you make as you spend your life currency?

EXERCISE:

How can you begin today to live even more fully and authentically to squeeze all the juice possible from the precious time given to you? Who do you want to accompany you on this wonderful, yet finite journey?

Choice Not Chance

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“It’s choice – not chance – that determines your destiny.”

– Jean Nidetch, co-founder of Weight Watchers

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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to see Lisa Nichols speak at a coaching conference. Lisa first came to the attention of the personal development world when she was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, due to her involvement in the movie “The Secret” that focused on the Law of Attraction.

Her inspirational journey from poverty to running her own public company was a result of her many courageous choices along the way.

Please check out Lisa at her website www.motivatingthemasses.com. You can see her appearance on Oprah here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zuW_tEbz1Y

Exercise:

Where can you use your own power of choice, not chance, to help determine your professional and personal destiny?

“Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.”

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“Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.”

– Homer, Greek poet

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Image from Flickr by goldberg

To say that we live in an over-communicated world is an understatement. Homer, who lived around the eighth century BC, suggests through this quote that some words are full of value while others are empty and worthless.

If you had to pay the people you met and spoke with today for the value of what they shared, what would that value be? Take a moment to review some of these interactions to assess their worth. Which were of least or even negative value, and would have been better left unsaid?

Exercise:

Consider your communication with others in your world. How often are you sharing pearls of wisdom and value? How often should your inner thoughts be left unsaid? Imagine the impact on the world if everyone did this.

“Think before you speak. Words can get you into trouble much easier than they can get you out of it.”

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“Think before you speak. Words can get you into trouble much easier than they can get you out of it.”

— D. Ernest Green

As part of my Personal Excellence Training, I spend a considerable amount of time developing each client’s awareness of their inner voice. Sometimes this voice shows up as a judge or a critic when it is directed toward others or as a gremlin when it is directed inward.

The problem comes when this inner voice is not monitored for potential damage and is put on external speaker.

Exercise:

Today and over the next week, take particular note of when your inner voice is judgmental or critical. Ask yourself, if I put these thoughts out there, will it forward the situation or simply make me feel justified and right?

When your inner gremlin’s voice is directed toward yourself, the damage is done without uttering a word. In this case you need to catch the critical words in the formulation stage and reframe them to do no harm – or perhaps even to empower yourself in a positive direction.

Choose yourself

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“Choose yourself.”

– Seth Godin, author and entrepreneur

In recent months, I have met with numerous executives to explore next steps regarding their career advancement. Two of the most common options include advancement within their existing organization or creating an exit strategy to pursue greener pastures with another company.

Unfortunately in some cases, the entryway into the C-suite may be blocked, or the phone simply doesn’t ring with those plum assignments. In some cases, even after considerable networking and outreach efforts, they have yet to be picked for the team.

Exercise:

Take out one of your business cards and turn it over to the blank side. Write your name then the title “President” or a title of your choosing just under it.

By choosing yourself, you virtually eliminate all the current internal barriers that may be stopping you. Now all you need to do is overcome the external constraints to play your own game and make your ideal career a reality.

“It’s choice – not chance – that determines your destiny.”

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“It’s choice – not chance – that determines your destiny.”

– Jean Nidetch, co-founder of Weight Watchers

It is surprising to learn the percentage of people who have clearly defined written goals for both their personal and professional life. Estimates are definitely in the single digits – with most hovering around three percent.

So many people have a “take it as it comes” attitude to life, and they may even believe that their destiny is already determined. Yet free will and our capacity to choose how we spend our days are simply fundamental to being human.

Exercise:

Take five minutes this morning to choose how you will spend your day. Select only those activities and people who fit best with your vision and values.

Take five minutes at the end of your day to reflect on what you learned, achieved and experienced.

Consider doing this exercise every day, or at least every week, if you like what you discovered. Feel free to email me at barry@dempcoaching.com to let me know if something wonderful happens.

Life is about choices

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“Life is all about choices. How many people are trapped in their everyday habits: part numb, part frightened, part indifferent? To have a better life we must keep choosing how we’re living.”

– Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist

www.onhold.on.ca

Image from www.onhold.on.ca

As a coach, I often see individuals who are limiting their freedom to fully choose.

Which of these choices have you been fully intentional about?

• The choice of career or vocation
• The choice to be healthy and fit
• The choice of friends and associates
• The choice of how you spend your free time
• The choice of where you live, and the communities you associate with
• The choice of the thoughts and attitudes you bring to each day

Exercise:

Where are you currently trapped and limited by your everyday habits and thinking?

What new and intentional choices can you make to achieve a better life?

From A.J. Cronin, physician and novelist

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“Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered, but a maze of passages, through which we must seek our way, lost and confused, now and again checked in a blind alley.  But always, if we have faith, a door will open for us, not perhaps one that we ourselves would ever have thought of, but one that will ultimately prove good for us.”

– A.J. Cronin, physician and novelist

How did you get where you are today? How many twists and turns, roadblocks, forks in the road and dead-ends have you found on your journey? The shortest distance between two points may be a straight line – however, life virtually never works out this way.

A not-so-funny thing is that we often get upset when our intentions are thwarted and our expectations are unfulfilled, in spite of our knowledge of how life works. Perhaps our job is simply to look within ourselves in faith, and take the first step.

Exercise:

How has following your internal GPS helped you make some of your life choices?

During those points of decision, how were you able to turn a dead end into an open door?

Do What you Can

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“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Image from www.theodore-roosevelt.com

Image from www.theodore-roosevelt.com

Many of us are waiting for the perfect time, the perfect person, for all the stars to align before we take action, and before we will be happy. Even if this were to happen occasionally, it never seems to last. What then?

Roosevelt was both a visionary and a realist, charting the course to a better future while still taking into consideration the reality of our daily lives.

Exercise:

Look at the day ahead of you. What can you do with what you have and where you are?

You may surprise yourself.