The Future IS IN YOU Now

“There’s nothing you have to do. We all have the power to make a decision that will direct us to a new destination. Each of us can make a choice that will change our life.” ~ John G. Miller

Your future really is in you now. That’s not just a play on words. It’s the truth. Your future is defined and refined by the choices you make every day.

You can’t predict your future, but you can create your future. This is powerful and profound if you have never taken the time to slow down and truly think it out. This may be hard to grasp, so let’s look at an example: My boss asks me and my coworkers to work the weekend at the last minute on a Friday afternoon.

Let’s consider some options to see how I could create a different future purely based on my choices.

If I don’t use my pause button (access a podcast to hear Mack talk about the pause button) and simply choose to get angry because I’m being told one more time I must cancel my plans and work overtime, I would create a future of frustration, bad working relationships, and become a bad role model for those around me. I may not get the next promotion or the next raise and may eventually lose my job because of my lack of cooperation and my negative influence on the team.

Something else would also happen.

Those agreeing with me would support and encourage me. They would be angry too. We would stand around and talk about the boss, the company and how much we hate being yanked around. Then, we would do it again for the next two days while we were working the overtime. We may rebel and keep our productivity low over the entire weekend, and if we’re really upset, the next week too.

As a result, I strengthen my relationship with those like me while damaging my relationship with my boss and any other high impact leaders that are watching. I also fire up everyone else around me at break and lunch causing an overall production loss which may actually lead to me and my followers having to work the next weekend too. If so, I wouldn’t accept responsibility. I would simply choose to repeat the cycle of blame.

That would be the future I created.

However, if I used my pause button and responded based on values, I wouldn’t get angry because I chose to work there knowing this happens regularly.

I would also know I valued not working weekends. As a result, I would want to be a positive influence and help the boss keep everyone motivated and inspired to stay productive in an effort to do all we could do to help catch up, so we wouldn’t have to work next weekend too. Instead of blaming, I would be helping.

As a result, I would strengthen my relationship with my boss and increase my influence with all the high impact leaders that had expected the worst from all of us but didn’t get it from me.

I would hear all of the rumblings and try to help everyone see how our behavior can make it better or worse. Some would start to talk bad about me because I wasn’t angry and upset. I would be okay with that too because I would understand I’m working for myself, and my actions impact me and my family the most.

If I truly didn’t like it and didn’t want to work the weekend, I could quit because I would also know I have that choice too. I can do whatever I want, however I want, but I also know I must live with the consequences.

If I wasn’t prepared to quit and was simply angry, things could get worse for me and my family in an instant, especially if I didn’t give a notice. That could impact my ability to get the next job.

If I was prepared to quit, I could move on without any worries. But, I would stay positive, work the weekend, and work out a two week notice because I know how I leave one job can greatly impact my ability to get the next job.

That was a lot of ifs, but they could all be real choices along with many others I didn’t mention. The point was to help paint you a picture of how what we choose to do creates our future. The thousands of choices we make every day of our life, not only shape our life, but create our future.

With only a few exceptions, you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be based on all of the choices you have made leading up to this moment. If you were supposed to be someplace else, you would already be there. You must own the results your choices have produced.

Until you own that you’re responsible, you’re being irresponsible. That’s the reason those blaming others for their circumstances can’t improve their circumstances.

How ridiculous is that thought process?

It’s my fault, but I’m going to say it’s your fault. And then, when you don’t fix something that only I can fix, I’m going to blame you for that too while thinking all of this will somehow improve my circumstances.

That thought process has a zero chance of making anything in your life better. Many people wake up and live out this model from start to finish every day.

Working on the front lines is tough at times. I seldom had the privilege of working a normal five days a week, 8 hours a day job. What I didn’t understand was how my choices literally made things better or worse for me.

I was simply reacting based on my feelings.

Think about your job and the day to day choices you make.

• What impact are they having on your future?
• Where are you heading?
• What choices (good or bad) did you make in the past that have led you to where you are today?

If you want tomorrow to be better, make better choices today.

The hardest person you will ever lead is reading this sentence right now.

NOTE: You can listen to Mack Story share more thoughts about this on a related 20 minute episode on his Blue-Collar Leadership Podcast. Access the episode here.

“We are anxious to improve our circumstances but unwilling to improve ourselves. We therefore remain bound.” ~ James Allen

About Blue-Collar Leadership...

Blue-Collar Leadership? provides leaders with a platform for training and developing their workforce to unleash their potential by taking powerful leadership concepts and packaging them in easy to understand and apply resources.

Founded by Mack Story, Blue-Collar Leadership? is uniquely designed content specifically created to engage and develop the front line workforce, those who lead them, and those who support them.

We understand your biggest frustration as a leader is likely disengaged team members. We specialize in helping leaders engage the front line to improve the bottom line.

Mack Story has logged over 11,000 hours leading leaders and their teams through organizational change. He is the author of the extremely popular Blue-Collar Leadership? Series books.

Ria Story is an author, TEDx speaker, and expert in leadership and life skills for women. Ria has nearly 20 years of experience in leadership and management. 

Mack and Ria are certified leadership speakers and trainers and have published 31 leadership development and personal growth books. 

Highlights for them have been:

• Helping train 20,000 Guatemalan Leaders with John Maxwell
• Speaking at Yale University
• Offering leadership development support for the U.S. Military, Chick-fil-A, Auburn University, Chevron, Kilgore Construction, and many other organizations

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