The Greatest Power We Possess

As a life coach I am constantly looking for ways to enhance the lives of my clients as well as my own. While there are a number of different tools and techniques to help one get on the track to overall happiness and satisfaction in life, there is one great power we all possess but seldom seem to use or at least acknowledge as a power. This power has the ability to remove stress, eliminate worry, and keep us well guided along the path to happiness and success. What exactly is this power? Quite simply, it is the power to choose.

Now, there may be those among you that think, Easier said than done or I make choices everyday and I’m still unhappy/unsuccessful/unfulfilled. Well, that may be because you are making the wrong choices or it may be because you don’t fully understand how powerful your ability to choose is or even worse, you may think to yourself, I don’t have a choice because I have to pay bills/support family/etc. Thinking to yourself that you don’t have a choice in something is one of the biggest disservices you could ever do to yourself, especially if you are working towards a worthwhile goal like happiness or success.

Take for example an average guy working a regular job. He makes enough to cover all his bills, feed his family, take a family vacation once a year, and even have a little left over to put into savings. Sounds pretty good, right? Sounds like all his bases are covered. But day in and day out this man is miserable and may think to himself, I chose the right major in college, I chose a good job in a good paying field, so why aren’t I happy?
The simple truth is that while all his choices sounded right for one who wants to start a family, live in a certain area, provide for a family, have job security, whatever, he failed to ask himself a major question. Will this job make me happy or leave me fulfilled? By not asking that question, he chose to make a decision based on only a few limiting criteria. He chose security over happiness. Now choosing security is not at all a bad choice but, choosing anything over happiness can lead you down the paths of regret, unhappiness, being unfulfilled, and so on.
I have sparked a lot of debate in my life with this topic, several times as a matter of fact, but I continue to hold strong to this belief. If you are unhappy, if you are unsuccessful, if you are in anyway miserable in your life, profession, relationship, anything, it is because you chose to be in that place and it’s no one’s fault but your own. Not your bosses, not your wife or husband, not your partner or friend, not your kids or your dog, it’s your fault. You chose this life this way and even though it was done with the best of intentions, it was your choice nonetheless.
But wait, there’s good news. You don’t have a limited number of choices in life! You can still choose to change things in order to live the way you want! How, you ask? Very simple. Determine what it is you want and choose to pursue it. That’s it. Choose to throw caution to the wind and chase down what it is you want. You get one go around as the person you are right now and living a happy, healthy, existence is your birthright. Now, some choices will of course be more difficult than others. The choice you make as to what to eat for breakfast will be much easier than the choice to break up with someone you’ve been with for a while or the choice to quit your job and pursue something your more passionate about. The point is, you have that choice. Get out of your own way, stop overthinking all the what ifs and get all the cant’s out of your damn head. They’ll only fester into fear and doubt.

I know probably better than most how difficult some choices can be than others. As a soldier, I had to make a number of difficult choices every day. As a husband and father there seems to be no end to making tough choices, as a life coach I sometimes have to make choices to not work with some people because I feel they may need more help than I can give and as an entrepreneur I have to make tough choices as to what to invest time, money, and energy in all the time. The point is, I make those choices and stick by them good or bad. If good, then I continue down that path, if bad, I acknowledge that it was on me then I adapt and overcome. Even a bad call can teach you a lot, sometimes more than a good one.
As I stated in my introduceyourself post, my goal for the remainder of my life is to help others achieve their dreams whether they be success in business or relationships or finding happiness and all of it begins with a choice. The choice to want more, to be more, to do more, to have more and so on. One of the first things I tell my coaching clients is that you are the pilot. I am simply the co-pilot here to make course corrections and suggestions, but you are the one who gets to dictate how your entire life unfolds. One of the most self-defeating things a person can say is, I didn’t have a choice. Bullshit! You may not have had an ideal choice, you may not have had an easy choice or an obvious choice, but you had a choice and as long as you’re here you have an unlimited supply of choices. So dear reader I now ask you this, what will you choose?

Take care and be well.
GG