The Power of Choice: Leading to Success

The Power of Choice: Leading to Success

A while back I wrote this short article but never published it,

hope you like it!

Victor Frankel and his final freedom:  We have the freedom and power to choose the way we respond to whatever life hands us.

His career as a psychotherapist and neurologist was interrupted by the Second World War and the Holocaust.  He spent three years in four Nazi camps:  Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, Kaufering III, and Turkheim. He lost his wife, Tilly, and his father, mother and brother in the camps.

In Man’s Search for Meaning Frankl wrote:

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the hut comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.  They may have been few in number; but they offered sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but on thing:  the last of the human freedoms-the power to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.” 

Yes, it takes courage to respond like the few who gave away their last pieces of bread.  Yes, it takes courage to respond-no matter what the weather or the obstacles-in ways that reflect your true self.  Yes, it takes courage and creativity to live your life committed to making a difference.  But you must have the courage, you must have the desire and creativity to act.  Be there and ready to help them on their journey, be there to make a difference.   So, Go forth, fear not. 

Some key thoughts:

“There is no such thing as a weird human being.  It’s just that some people require more understanding than others.”  -Tom Robbins

“True listening is a radical act, you risk being changed by it.”  Juanita Brown, Whole Systems Associates

“Wanting results and getting the results you want are two different things.  Ultimately, life is a gamble:  You pick a path and you hope for the best.  Choosing a life strategy is a gamble, and the stakes are our lives.”

“Our choice of life strategy is not complicated.  Rather, a simple way to view the decisions and choices we make everyday and the consequences of those choices.”

“ So if life is a gamble, and gambling is a game; choose your game, choose your life strategy.”

“Someone once said, You are not the center of the universe-that job is already taken.” -Anonimous

Finding objective reality, using maps in our best interest, using rational language-these all come down to choosing.  Anthropologist Carlos Castaneda, speaking through a fictional character, Don Juan, wrote, “The trick is what one emphasizes, we either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong, the amount of work is the same.”

Others wrote:

“Life is full of trouble, death isn’t” -Zorba the Greek

“Results equal power.  Better decisions create better results.  Better options create better decisions. Diversity creates better options (results).  Therefore, diversity equals power.”  -Jim Kearns, DuPont Fibers

“For every complex problem there are solutions that are simple, easy, and wrong.” –H.L. Mencken

Therefore, if you choose right, you may end up being successful:

“Everybody wants to be successful.  Success, by definition, is the accomplishment of your objectives.  Doing what you have set out to do.  And althought most people think that success might make you happy, success and happiness are not necessarily related.  The connection is: If success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you have.”  -Billy Weisman, Weisman Enterprises, Inc.

In conclusion, life choices are a key factor in achieving success in life, which makes important the following premise, that says; “how you live your life, determines your success”.  So being that there are those that say that “Life is an Adventure”, and being that, adventure is defined as;  a difficult endeavor in which the outcome is unknown, but the possibility of great rewards exist.  We should, therefore, have a big sign defining life that should read:

 

WANTED: PEOPLE WILLING TO UNDERTAKE A HAZARDOUS JOURNEY.  – Enrique (Henry) Saldana – Real Estate, Investment and Mortgage Consultant.