Who Is Making Your Choices?

Every morning I get up and I am ready to jump into action. I get up and go about making today a better day than yesterday. I am not saying that it is always easy to look at life this way. I am saying that everyday I have a choice on how I want to look at the world. I choose everyday to make it better.

After being in business for over 16 years I have seen a lot of challenges. We have been through just about everything negative a business can go through. In one of my companies I recall when we sold it to a Fortune 500 company and then worked as local managers for them. Within one year they went bankrupt and we were faced with a choice. The choice of letting go and moving on without doing that work anymore or taking back our company in which we were not completely paid for. We made the choice to keep it and boy did we learn a lot from that. Ten years later we are still going in that business. Oh but be clear there have been some difficult choices in those ten years. Just this spring within a two month period we had a couple clients file bankruptcy. Between them, they owed us over $100,000.00. Because we are a service industry there is no product to take back, this was all for payroll that employees must be paid. We had a choice to say should we close the doors or what can we do different? Well, we are still doing different. Batten down the hatches and hold on tight!

Our lives are made up of many choices. Choices to change course, to let go, to hold on and leave the thoughts of failure behind! What are your choices? Can you enjoy your choices even when things get tough?

Who are the people that you bring into your life to help you get through it? Are you bringing problem solvers or problem makers into your life?

Do you have people who you can brainstorm with? Are there friends, family members or co-workers who are willing to remind you why you do what you do?

Who do you have that helps you set and achieve goals? Hold you accountable to what you say you want to achieve?

I would challenge you to make a list of all the people in your life you consider close to you. Next to their name put either the letters E & D. E is for the people who bring you energy and lift you up. D is for the people who are more often draining the energy from you. Then look to see who you spend the most time with. Do you want to shift where you spend your time? You do not have to do anything different! As long as you are aware of it you can make the choice to stay the same or do something different.

If you catch yourself in a rut, evaluate what is going on and ask what can I improve in this situation? Find the solutions to lift yourself up. I live with an attitude of today will be better than tomorrow. Here are a few of the attitudes that I choose in my life most.

Excellent Attitudes of Choice:

1. An Attitude of Solution.

Finding a solution to what is going on and not becoming a victim to it. If I am low on cash I find a solution to bring more money into my life. Ask myself what can I do to bring in more money. So what ever you are facing get support from people who can help you find solution.

2. An Attitude of Productivity.

There is a difference between busy work and productive work. I can look busy all the time! I am productive when I have the attitude of creating a forward moving result. Cleaning the house when I know my business is not producing would not be a smart choice for me. I can hire a house keeper when the money is flowing in. I can delegate some of the non essentials to others who love to do that and have a business for it. This leaves me the time and energy to be productive and do what I love to do. When you slack at your job or business it says that you have a habit of slacking. You are likely to get a slack pay for your job. Do your job with excellence and you will be rewarded. It may not be rewarded from the same place however.

3. An Attitude of Optimism.

You may not be able to choose all the circumstance in your life, you do have the choice on how you handle them. Refuse to be defeated by the circumstances. Look for that silver lining. What can I learn from this? How can I teach others to get through this? Instead of a “why me” choose a “why not me” attitude. Find something good in all your doing and hand on tight. You never know when this lesson will be pulled up to help someone else along the way. As a survivor of a rape, at the time did not see any benefit in it! Now I am grateful to be able to truly understand where a survivor comes from and can help them get through it too.

4. An Attitude of Improvement.

Look for ways to continuously improve your life. Find ways to make your life or the life of someone else better today than yesterday. No one ever said life would be easy! I have found that it is easier when I find ways to improve my relationships, improve my business, improve the knowledge of my kids and improve my attitude. If I were to stay the same as I was 20 years ago I would not be worth much to the people around me and yet at the same time I know that I must change me because no one else can change me and I can not change them either. What could you improve in your life today? Take baby steps and improve a little at a time.


Remember, you have the choice to do what you want in life. Not all choices are easy and not all choices are hard. Keep moving forward and know that there are people in the world looking to help you along the way. Go find those people and allow them to keep you energetic and you will be able to return the favor.