Choices and Consequences

You must choose, but choose wisely...

In life, there are two constants, choices and consequences.

It's a simple life lesson, but an essential one to learn if you intend to live a successful life as a Black Belt Leader in Life. 

We all come to "forks in the road" in life, those times we have to make a choice. Life is full of these moments of "choosing", yet how often do we make a decision without giving any real thought to what happens AFTER we've made the choice.

Here's a Black Belt Leadership Life Principle you need to understand...

Life is a series of CHOICES and CONSEQUENCES. You get to choose your choices, but the consequence of that choice happens automatically.  

Yoda famously told a young Luke Skywalker, "Do or do not, there is no try." Both are a choice. If we choose to do, there is a consequence to that action. And if we choose not to do, there's also a consequence that follows.

We choose our choices, but the consequences of our life happen as a result of the choices we have made.  

This is one of the core principles I have taught for decades, because grasping the magnitude of this simple statement can put you on a stratospheric trajectory to unparalleled success and fulfillment in your life.

Consequences are the RESULTS of your choices. Petty people attempt to make excuses rather than be honest with themselves and admit it was THEIR choice that put them into the outcome they are experiencing.

People who are successful don't make excuses. People who are not successful do. That just about sums it up, doesn't it?

The solution to living a life that isn't successful, fulfilling, or you're not living up to your full potential is simple.

 To improve your outcome, make better choices.

I've told my children from the time they were little, "If you don't like the consequences of life you're experiencing, then change your choices." I share this simple, but highly effective, principle with the people I'm coaching, mentoring, or training.  

The good news (and the bad news) is you get to choose your choices.

What happens next is predicated on how well you choose.

How much better could our lives be if we simply made better choices throughout the day? Rather than simply doing the same things the same way we've always done them, and wondering why things don't change, we were INTENTIONAL about the Choices we are making and considering the Consequences in advance.

I heard a story of a man who walked down a trail in the jungle and fell in a pit. He eventually managed to climb out and went on his way. The next day, he walked down the same trail and fell into the same pit. Again, he managed to climb out and went on his way. The next day, he walked down the same trail, this time slowly, and carefully, navigating his way around the pit, and continued on his way. The next day, he went down a different trail and avoided the pit altogether.

Would it not have been better to walk with eyes open, fully aware of your surroundings, and avoid falling into the pit in the first place? And if you've already fallen in a pit once, why repeat the same blunder again?

Yet how often do we do this because we don't consider our choices?

In the Book of Wise Sayings, Solomon said to consider our ways and be wise.

We get to choose our choices. The consequences of life we experience are a result of the choices we make. Improve the quality of our choosing and we improve the quality of our lives.

Thoughts shape beliefs, beliefs shape choices, and choices dictate consequences...the outcomes we experience in life.

As you think, you ultimately become.

Therefore, choose wisely.

So here's your homework. Take an honest reflective look at yourself and ask yourself TWO questions.

What are the consequences of life you're experiencing right now as a result of the choices you've made?

What choices do I need to be making to bring about a better consequence?  

In the movie, "The Last Crusade", Indiana Jones came face to face with a 400-year-old knight who guarded the Holy Grail, the cup of Christ. As he challenged Jones to select the correct cup from the hundreds in the cave, he uttered a warning...

"You must choose, but choose wisely. "

You MUST choose, as every day consists of a series of choices.

• Do, or do not

• Say, or say not

• Be, or be not

All are choices YOU get to choose each day, and each has a corresponding consequence that will happen by default. Perhaps the ancient knight in the movie understood this Black Belt Leadership Principle well...

"You must choose, but choose wisely. "