Making Different Choices

There is an old saying that goes: “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you will keep getting what you’ve always gotten.” So, if your life is going really well and you are happy with the results you are achieving, then you are on the right track for continued success and happiness.

However, if your life isn’t exactly the way you would like it, if there are parts of your personal or professional life that could stand some change, a little improvement or a total makeover, then it’s time to look at the choices you are making. Each choice we make, whether it is large or small, determines the path of our lives; yet most of us go through our day making choices out of habit or without thinking, and then wonder why our lives are still stuck in the same old rut. We don’t see the connection between our choices, our actions and the end result which is our life.

I have just finished reading the book, “The Right Questions – Ten Essential Questions to Guide You to an Extraordinary Life” written by Debbie Ford, and I highly recommend it. Ford’s premise is a simple one: If we want to create the life we truly desire then we need to make new choices: choices that will lead us to, not away from, our desired outcome.

Ford creates a simple road map to help us determine whether or not the choices we are making are moving us forward toward their goals. The roadmap consists of 10 questions that are designed to reveal what is actually motivating our actions. When our actions are motivated by our best interests, they will move us forward; but our actions come from a place of fear, doubt or guilt they will keep our lives stuck.

Here are some of the questions:
1. Will this choice propel me toward an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past?
2. Am I standing in my power or am I trying to please another?
3. Will this choice add to my life force or will it rob me of my energy?
4. Is this an act of faith or is it an act of fear?

I have Ford's ten questions posted on the bulletin board above my desk so that I am constantly reminded as I go through my day to make choices that will empower me and help me grow. It’s so easy to make decisions out of habit or fear, but when we do that we are keeping ourselves small and robbing ourselves of so much opportunity. We are not on this earth to live small and ineffectual lives. We are here to live bold, courageous and brilliant lives and these questions can help make that happen.

"If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared for." Florence Scovel Shinn