We are living in a world which is very competitive and very challenging
with many problems which can come up at any time.
Suddenly we are now affected by strange new diseases caused by the
Mers and Zika viruses and many people are suffering from them.
We are also now faced with real threats from terrorists attacks which
can happen at any time and we must stand united against terrorism if
we love peace.
In life, we cannot avoid having to make many decisions or choices.
The decisions we make will determine what results we will get and if
we can achieve our goals.
Life is very short and very uncertain.
Can you afford not to take action to make improvements in your life?
Do you think you are making the right choices to obtain what you want
to accomplish in life?
Or do you find it very difficult to make decisions and you feel stressed
with having to face many problems and decide what to do ?
Are you a human lobster which is in danger of being eaten?
Or are you the “anything” type of person?
Where, for example, if you are having a meal with friends and they ask
you what drink you would like, do you sometimes say “anything” and
you end up getting some drink which you do not like?
Getting a drink you may not like is no big deal.
But it will be a real problem for you, if you cannot make up your mind
on what you want in life, won’t it?
Do you wonder why some people always have positive attitudes and do
so well in life?
While other people are not open minded, negative, quick to blame other
people and cannot seem to be able achieve much success?
The answer is really in the choices different people make.
When we wake up every morning, we can choose whether we want to
stay in bed or get up to go to work.
You can choose to stay in bed if you still feel sleepy or tired but if you
have to go to work and you cannot find a good reason not to go, then
you will probably say there is “no choice” for you, although you may
not feel like going to work
Actually, do you know that there is no such thing as “no choice”?
Have you heard of Hobson’s choice?
This term is said to be named after Hobson, who owned a stable of
horses for rent in the 16th to 17th century. Anyone who came to rent
horses were told to take the horse which was nearest the stable door
or just walk away with no horse. If the person wanted to rent a horse,
there was “no choice” but to rent that particular horse.
Smart guy! By not allowing the people to chose any horse, he saved
himself a lot of time and trouble by not having to wait for people to
take their time to decide on which horses they wanted. He also did
not have to think how to solve the problem if many people wanted
one particular horse. He could do this without hurting his business
probably because there was little or no business competition.
Actually, if you think carefully about this, it is not true there was
“no choice”. There was a choice. Hobson’s choice which really
means “take it or leave it.”
Have you heard of mafia’s choice?
Is this the first time you have heard of this term?
Not sure if such a term really exists.
Does this ring a bell in your mind and help you recall that this is
another “no choice” or “forced choice” scenario?
If you are still wondering what is this “mafia’s choice” . do you
remember the book or film where the Godfather gave someone
“an offer he cannot refuse” ? This could actually have the same
meaning of “take it or leave it” , couldn’t it? But in this case, it
was “take the offer or leave and lose your life!”
So if you come across someone who offers you “mafia’s choice”
you should really think carefully before you refuse!
But then again, if you think again with a positive mindset, is it
possible that “an offer you cannot refuse” can be a good thing?
Imagine if someone gives you an irresistible offer such as a very
time limited offer of a very well paid job which you really like
and which has a lot of perks and the intentions are good, will this
not be a “too good to refuse” offer? But then this should not be
called “mafia’s choice” , right? Perhaps, although it is still “take
it or leave it”, this can be called ” perfect choice” or “dream
choice” or something very similar?
As you can see, we always have choices.
We always have free will to decide.
But many times, we are “forced by ourselves” to choose the option
that we do not like.
What is important is what do you do if you have to pick something
you do not like.
Do you bear with it or do you make a decision to make a change for
the better?
Many of the people who have now achieved great success were left
to choose whether to accept failure and to give up when they failed
many times in many things or to do what they were good at and to
go after what they really wanted.
They have become very successful because they made the choices
to find opportunities, to believe strongly in their goals. to use their
brains very well and to never give up, despite facing a lot of tough
problems.These people had made the choices to go after their goals
and they were ready to work hard and smart to achieve their goals
in their lives.
Remember these quotes…
“Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world…If you do so,
you are insulting yourself” by Bill Gates.
“Success is no accident….” by Pele.
“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.” by John.F.
Kennedy.
Have you heard the story of WD-40?
Do you know why it is called WD-40?
The story is that 3 engineers in San Diego were searching for a rust
preventive solvent and degreaser for missile parts. They tried 40
times before they were successful in coming out with the product.
This is why the product is called WD-40, Water Displacement,
number 40.
Imagine if they had given up earlier. There will no wonderful
WD-40 product which can be used for many purposes now.
Or if they had still failed after 40 attempts but did not give up,
we may not have WD-40 but may still have WD-45 or WD-50…
We are also fortunate that Thomas Edison did not give up even
after his teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything” and
after he failed 1000 times to invent the light bulb or we will not
have the light bulb now.
The world is now changing fast with many technological advances,
We also know many things which have already been tried by many
people in the past. We know many things that will not work and do
not have to waste our time testing them again and “reinventing the
wheel.” Now we just need to focus on new things which can help
us to improve our lives.
We do not need to try and fail 1000 times before we can succeed.
However, we must still be prepared to fail several times before we
can taste success.
Have you made the right choices to set your goals to get what you
want in life?
It does not really matter if you have made some wrong choices. All
of us are not perfect and we make mistakes.
What is important is that we do not hesitate to make decisions on
what we want and learn from our mistakes to do better to always
improve ourselves.
If we really want to achieve our goals, we must never give up. If
we give up too soon, we will be in a situation similar to someone
who had taken too many wrong turns and ended up stranded in a
very strange place and left there to struggle to survive!
If you are indesive and contented to get “anything” that comes to you,
you will have to suffer the consequences.
If you are hit by too many lemons that are thrown at you, you can get
hurt badly!
We should be ready to dodge all the lemons, pick them up and make
good use of them and move forward all the time towards our goals.
To inspire you to achieve your success, here are some more quotes
from some very successful people…
“I believe that one of life’s greatest risks is never daring to risk.”
by Oprah Winfrey.
“Don’t wait. The time is never just right.” by Napoleon Hill.