Choices
Remember this: you control your choices. The phrase “I had no choice,” means simply that you have chosen the action that was most compelling, for whatever circumstances surround it. You and all humans choose every day, thousands of times a day. The trick comes from deciding which choices are right, knowing how to be ready to execute on certain choices, and knowing which choices will provide you a better life, by whatever standards you judge such.
It all comes down to choice.
And finally, building opportunity means simply finding ways to expand your collection of options. Why? So you can choose something better.
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Comments
Totally agree. there’s always a choice to be made. Sometimes the phrase “I had no choice” really means that there was a balance between the easy way or passive way to go, and the difficult and potentially irreversible way to go. The Burning the Bridge choice versus some other option.
When I use the phrase “I had little choice” or “have no choice” usually means I’m backed into an uncomfortable corner and need to be a hard ass about something. I need to draw a line or a boundary. I’ve reached some limit of feasible options. And this is saying something, because I am famous for lateral solutions to problems.
If you really think you are out of options, you’re not looking hard enough.
Exactly. That’s why it’s not about time management, it’s about action/choices; I prefer “self-management.”
Choice has (at least) two implications:
1) Self-responsibility: Making conscious choices about our lives removes the excuse to be passive and then complain about it. Example: Not having an important but difficult conversation, then complaining about my relationship.
Another example: When I’m teaching clients best practices for personal productivity, it’s *empowering*, for some of them too much so. (Not too many, thankfully - plunking down $$$ tends to clarify commitment.) For example, if I get my act together, I can no longer claim it’s out of my hands, or it’s somebody else’s fault - I explicitly take responsibility. No necessarily comfortable initially, and may be a big change for folks…
2) Things *not* chosen, i.e., Mark Forster’s “closed lists” - deciding to do something means you’ve decided not to do something else. For example, spending time watching TV -> not spending time with my daughter and wife…
I have made the choice to not fight, to let what’s going to happen happen. Things will work out in the end.
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[…] We all know people who are resistant to change, so it’s a worrying thing to be on the cusp of graduation (December 2007, woot!) and feel like I’m about to walk into a world where most people will make faces when I talk about what I believe in. I can only imagine what Michael and Dwight would have to say about me… Michael Scott: Everyone always wants new things. Everybody likes new inventions, new technology. People will never be replaced by machines. In the end, life and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to murder you in a lake. And to me, the choice is easy. […]
So very true! Thanks for the gentle reminder.