choice

I didn’t remember who Harry Browne was, or that he ran for U.S. President as the Libertarian candidate in both 1996 and 2000.   When I read his quotation though, I knew I wanted to share it with you.  I hope you choose to read on . . .

 

“You don’t have to buy from anyone.
You don’t have to work at any particular job.
You don’t have to participate in any given relationship.
You can choose.”
– Harry Browne, author and politician

Questions to Ponder

  • What choices do you have today?
  • What choices do you have, that you aren’t seeing as choices?
  • What choice will you make?

Action Steps

  1. Think about any situation you face today in the context of a choice.
  2. If something has happened that is less than perfect, consider what choices you made that led to, or contributed to, that result.
  3. Consider what choices you could make the next time that would potentially change your results.

My Thoughts

As human beings, we have been granted a powerful skill – the power to choose.   We make subconscious choices all the time, as do many other animals.   However, as humans, we can also make conscious choices.  As the quotation says, we can choose.  As the quotation implies, we have far more choices than we often recognize.

The most successful, productive, healthy, and happy people realize this fact, and take action on it.   The time we spend assuming we have no choice is the time we take no action, and become a victim.   When we recognize that we have choices and begin to consciously make them, rather than aimlessly drifting and assuming things are “fate” or “outside of our control,” we get better results as a proactive participant in our lives and the trajectory of it.

As the author Og Mandino wrote, “Use wisely your power of choice.”

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Kevin Eikenberry is a recognized world expert on leadership development and learning and is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. He has spent over 30 years helping organizations across North America, and leaders from around the world, on leadership, learning, teams and teamwork, communication and more.

Twice he has been named by Inc.com as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World and 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. The American Management Association named him a “Leaders to Watch” and he has been twice named as one of the World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals by Global Gurus. Top Sales World has named him a Top Sales & Marketing Influencer several times, and his blog has been named on many “best of” lists. LeadersHum has named him one of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023.

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  1. Great thought for today Kevin. I like to say that a person can’t wish for a ‘good’ life. All that a person can do is make good choices. A good life is typically (not always) the result of good choices.

  2. Stephen Covey offers another way to think about choices…he challenges us to think about the term “responsible” as “response-able” in that we are able to choose our response to any given situation.

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