120523 Choices...

Choices…

I've heard it said that life's unfair;
that too many people just don't care,
and while that opinion may be true,
perhaps the answer may lie within you.

No one chooses from whence he came,
the color of his skin, his parents or name.
Each of us is given, by God's own plan,
free will to choose any card in our hand.

Wealth and fame don't guarantee success,
without God in your life, you don't stand a chance.
There is only one right guaranteed to be true,
and the choice that you make well, it's all up to you.

Not a day goes by that a memory isn't made;
not a word ever spoken will entirely fade.
Love isn't love till you given away,
and hate never ends till you call it a day.

Revenge is the reason that many are lost;
they cling to their slights no matter their cost.
There are none as blind as those who won't see
that forgiveness begins with a person called, me.

- Linda Lee Gleason

 

The Power of Choice…

Just for a minute, think about where you are today,

Think about where you have been, and think about

Where you will be going.

Where you are today with your life is a result of the

Choices you've made in the past.

What you will become in the future will be the result

Of the choices you make today and tomorrow.

Scary proposition… isn't it?

Here's a short list of choices you are faced with almost

On a daily basis. 

Yes I can't! That's a choice isn't it, believing and feeling

That you can't do something.

Yes I can! That's also a choice… choosing to believe that

You can do anything within reason.

I can't. I can. I will.

Can you see the subtle and powerful difference at work here?

There's a huge difference in outcomes between I can't, I can,

And I will.

You get to choose!

You get to choose your expectations everyday. For example,

You’re scheduled to make a sales call with an especially

Difficult customer.

Do you walk into the sales call thinking you'll get hammered

On your pricing, or do you walk into the sales call expecting

This sales call to be your best ever with this particular customer.

You get to choose!

You get to choose your career.

If you don't like your work, change it. If you don't like your career,

Change it.

Forget about the economy and the recession because they have

Little to do with the choices you make.

You get to choose!

You get to choose to be prepared.

Funny thing about preparation is that it takes more work than

Improvisation. Funny thing about the results too, preparation

Generally achieves far superior results than improvisation.

You get to choose!

You get to choose excellence over mediocrity.

Why is it that a majority of salespeople choose mediocrity?

If you always choose excellence you'll never, and I mean never,

Be a part of the mediocrity brigade.

You get to choose!

You get to choose excellence over mediocrity.

You get to choose whether or not you want to exceed your

Customers’ expectations.

You can be slow to commit and quick deliver.

You can go out of your way to make every sales call a

Magic moment for your customers.

You get to choose!

You get to choose to be ordinary or extraordinary.

You realize of course it only takes a little extra in everything

You do to be viewed as an extraordinary salesperson.

You get to choose!

You get to choose by design to leave people feeling good

When ever you meet with them.

You recognize their accomplishments.

They show gratitude for their business.

You always walk in with a smile and walk out leaving them

Smiling.

You get to choose!

You choose to keep learning instead of mental stagnation.

You are an avid reader. You read the Wall Street Journal daily.

You listen to CDs as you drive from account to account.

You get to choose!

You choose to be rich or choose to struggle financially.

You get to choose!

You choose to be cheerful or choose to be grouchy.

You get to choose!

You can choose to be happy or choose to feel sorry for yourself.

You get to choose!

You get to choose your attitude.

Some people think the glass is half full.

Others think it's half empty.

A person with an extremely positive attitude believes his glass is

Overflowing with opportunities and possibilities.

During the Vietnam War, Air Force Colonel George Hall was

Shot down and captured in North Vietnam.

He was a prisoner of war for 5.5 years.

“Though he was barefoot and dressed in his black prison uniform,

Shut up in a tiny cubicle, he discovered that through his mind he

Had an amazing freedom.

He was able to leave his prison cell clad in a Polo shirt and slacks.

He wore clean black and white golf shoes.

He could feel the thick green grass of Pebble Beach golf course

In northern California.

The sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze coming off

The Pacific Ocean.

The Colonel played each hole, starting with the first and ending

With the eighteenth.

He studied each shot, measured each swing, felt each blade of grass

Between his fingers as he replaced every divot.

He noted the sand in each bunker, hit each shot, sank each putt and

strode on to the next hole… all in his imagination.

Every day for five and a half years he played a perfect game of golf

On the Pebble Beach course.

The Colonel realized that only he had the power to make a choice

Between being resigned to his fate, of fear and hopelessness,

Or he could replay his happiest moments from the past,

Taking his mind off solitary confinement and setting it free upon a

Beautiful and famous golf course.

When he returned from his captivity, in his first golf game he shot

A 76-not a bad score for a professional golfer,

But even more amazing for an amateur.

When asked how he had accomplished such a feat, he said,

I never putted a green in more than two strokes during the last

Five years.

All those years of playing perfect games in the recesses of his mind,

Had produced a near perfect performance on a real golf course!”

You see, your attitude is everything about everything.

When it’s all said and done according to Joyce Nidetch,

“Your choices determine your destiny."

 

- Jim Meisenheimer   

 

The Two Choices We Face…

Each of us has two distinct choices to make about what we will do

With our lives.

The first choice we can make is to be less than we have the

Capacity to be. To earn less. To have less. To read less and think less.

To try less and discipline ourselves less.

These are the choices that lead to an empty life.

These are the choices that, once made, lead to a life of constant

Apprehension instead of a life of wondrous anticipation.

And the second choice?

To do it all!

To become all that we can possibly be. To read every book that we

Possibly can. To earn as much as we possibly can.

To give and share as much as we possibly can.

To strive and produce and accomplish as much as we possibly can.

All of us have the choice.

To do or not to do. To be or not to be.

To be all or to be less or to be nothing at all.

Like the tree, it would be a worthy challenge for us all to stretch upward

And outward to the full measure of our capabilities.

Why not do all that we can, every moment that we can, the best that we can,

For as long as we can?

Our ultimate life objective should be to create as much as our talent and

Ability and desire will permit.

To settle for doing less than we could do is to fail in this worthiest of

Undertakings.

Results are the best measurement of human progress.

Not conversation. Not explanation. Not justification. Results!

And if our results are less than our potential suggests that they should be,

Then we must strive to become more today than we were the day before.

The greatest rewards are always reserved for those who bring great value

To themselves and the world around them as a result of who and what they

Have become.

 

- Jim Rohn