#PositiveVibes - Make A Choice

By John R. Nocero & Sandy Abell

John: You are one decision away from an entirely new life.

A cliché to be sure, but one that is true. Think about it – every decision you have made up to this point, has led you to this point. The man or woman you married, the amount of money you decided to save, or didn’t, or the job you took. It is all made up of the decisions you made.

I was talking to someone today, and I said I always want to play from strength. She said, “that’s not possible John, there will be times when you will need to play from things that you are not good at. We have different strengths.”

 Indeed, this is true – but you can find the thing that you want that allows you to play from strength. You have to try and try and try and try again - over and over and over. And all the while, you have to be self-assessing and breaking things down into discrete skills so that you’re not just doing blind repetition - you’re actually practicing intelligently.

But you have to get to this point and you have to be realistic and know when you want to change. Some of it comes down to fear, or wanting things to be different than they are. You can stay in a situation that you hate, or you can leave.

You can ask, what if it doesn’t work? What if it does, and it most likely will? For every idea, don’t see it as a roadblock or why it will not work, see why it can. Never look for permission to stay stuck. It is not always rock bottom that causes it. It comes when your level of discomfort is greater than your fear of not taking a chance, and not one moment before.

 Sandy: All good points John.

Obviously, playing from your strength is best when you have the talent and skills to do it. If your strength is a particular talent that’s required, then all the better.

However, if it’s not, you can still play from your strength if your strength is being optimistic, open to learning new things, being perseverant, following through, and believing that things will work out.

Your attitude can be a huge strength if you make it so.

I believe that each of us has a level that allows us to tolerate things we don’t like. For some folks, that level is pretty low, so when things aren’t going the way they want, they acknowledge it and find ways to make things different.

For other people, their fear of change, or of having to learn something new, or losing something they are familiar with, makes them tolerate a higher level of discomfort, and the unhappiness that goes with it. Eventually most of these people decide, for whatever reason, that staying stuck is worse than the pain of change, so they do something different. Some people need to hit rock bottom, and others are able to catch themselves on the way down and turn things around.

It’s always a choice, and we always have the power to make that choice.

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