This is From The Balance Beam

[TheBalanceBeam] - The Power of Choice

======================================================================
THE BALANCE BEAM
Ideas and Inspiration for Creating a Life that Works
Vol. 2 No. 17, August 20, 2000
Published by Success Builders, Inc.
http://www.SuccessBuildersInc.com
======================================================================
"He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened."
Lao-tzu
In this issue: THE POWER OF CHOICE
====================================================================== Dear Friends:
The fact that you are reading this ezine demonstrates that you made an active decision to see what's here (thank you!) and that you are exercising your power of choice around what you read. Owning and being cognizant of the power of choice is perhaps the greatest personal development strategy available to any of us. In this issue of The Balance Beam, we explore the notice of being "at choice" and what it means in our lives.

If you want to check out earlier editions of The Balance Beam that you may have missed, you can easily retrieve them by clicking on http://www.successbuildersinc.com/newsletter.html and going to the Archives section. If you are not yet a regular subscriber to The Balance Beam, you can also enter your subscription information at this location.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today's Topic: THE POWER OF CHOICE

This being an election year in the United States, one of the things we'll be hearing a lot about is the notion of choice. Exercising choice, and making conscious, intentional decisions, is important whether you're talking about choosing a president, making critical business decisions, or deciding what movie to go see on a Friday night.

Did you ever stop and ask yourself how many choices you make in the course of an average day? I recently decided to conduct a little experiment with myself to see if I could come up with an answer to this question. My recordkeeping looked something like this:

6 am - decided to hit the snooze alarm one more time.

6:10 - woke up with a stiff back, decided to do some stretching exercises.

6:20 - Selected a TV station to listen to the news, and went to take a shower.

6:40 - Picked out an outfit to wear for the day, and chose accessories to go with it.

6:50 - Went downstairs, picked up the morning paper, chose to read the business section.

6:55 - Let the dog out, and because the grass was wet, decided to let him come back into the garage to dry off.

7:00 - Chose to have fruit and an English Muffin instead of cereal for breakfast.

7:15 - Sat down with my calendar and made some tentative scheduling changes for the afternoon.

7:30 - Noticed the plants on the deck were wilting and chose to water them before I went into my office

By my count, I had made at least nine active choices before I even started my workday, in earnest. That's how it is for most of us. We're busy making all kinds of choices without even realizing it.

Choice is a multidimensional, and sometimes complicated, issue. It ranges from the little things, like what to have for breakfast, to the big questions like who we will marry and what we will do for a living, to the philosophical issues like political party preferences and how we believe people ought to be managed.

As my little morning experiment demonstrated, we seem to have a pretty easy time of making the choices that apply to minor issues in our lives. Oftentimes, we don't even think about these choices, we just do it.

The issue of what we will choose with respect to the major decisions in our lives becomes a different story for many people, however. Consider this: in a recent poll, 78% of working Americans said that they were dissatisfied with their jobs (this, even in a fabulous job market.) That means that 78% of the people out there are staying in working situations that they're not happy with, rather than choosing to either take positive action to change the situation or to go someplace else.

You can see similar patterns of dissatisfaction among many people with respect to where they live, the quality of their relationships, their levels of physical fitness, how they spend their time...........The list goes on and on. When it comes to the big issues of life and career, many people either neglect the power of choice, or seem overwhelmed as to what to do with it.

What is it about making big choices that seems so elusive for so many people, when they are so competent at making the little choices?

For many people it's inertia, or force of habit. They simply forget that they have the power to choose their circumstances, and unconsciously assume that things just are the way they are.

For some people it's fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of what might be on the other side of the fence, fear of failure, fear of success.

For other folks still, it's doubt in their own abilities to effect positive change in their lives, and the sense that the majority of circumstances are beyond their control. This is perhaps the classic definition of the "victim" role, one that gets played out everyday in homes and in businesses.

Whatever the reason for failure to choose, the remedy is obvious. Making choices is a skill to be learned and practiced and developed, just like anything else. It's about looking in the mirror in the morning and defying the dragons that say, "it can't be done!" It's about summoning up the energy to take a bigger risk today than you took yesterday. It's about setting a goal, developing a plan, and following through. It's about raising your standards and deciding what kind of life you really want to have. It's about believing in the basic goodness of life, and trusting that the universe will look out for you if your objective is to improve the quality of your own experience.

One of the strongest gifts that each of us has is the power of choice. It's the power to choose what you will wear in the morning, and it's the power to choose the legacy you will leave in your life and in your business. What choices will you make?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words to live by:
"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
Any direction you choose."
- Dr. Seuss