Mark Miller, co-founder of Lead Every Day, tells leaders they must choose a path. One path leads to uncommon greatness. The other path can lead to common greatness. The choice is up to you.
I think our choices go deeper than whether or not we achieve greatness, common or uncommon. We make choices multiple times every day.
These choices add up. I want you to consider what you’re choosing.
Do You Know What You’re Choosing?
I’ve seen leaders who appear to be highly successful from the outside. They’ve grown companies, taken lavish vacations, and even married beautiful women.
Yet…
Their choices in other parts of their lives show another story—a story I don’t want to live. I believe you also don’t want to live the life they’re choosing.
What is the other story?
The leader has declared bankruptcy not once but twice. Those vacations? They were put on a credit card that won’t be paid off for years. And that wife? Did you notice my wording there? He’s married multiple women. This is his third marriage, and they’re already having marital troubles.
This leader is choosing quick, easy wins over long-term, sustainable wins.
What are you choosing?
I want to choose lifelong success. I want to be the kind of leader who, five, ten, or twenty years down the line, people look back on and say, “He was consistent. He lived out what he believed. His choices aligned with who he was.”
Sometimes, those choices aren’t easy. Sometimes, I even make bad choices. Yet, I continue on.
I want you to continue forward, too. As you go about your day, consider that you’ll have to make some, if not all, of the following choices:
- How you treat your spouseWhether or not you take the ethical route in your finances Where your eyes wanderHow you treat your employeesThe direction you want your business to move inThe amount of time you spend with your childrenYour attitude toward your parents/grandparentsWhere you spend your time (books, movies, entertainment, friends/family, etc)How you grow yourselfWhat tasks to completeAnd more Your decisions are endless. You’re going to be choosing something almost every moment of every day. Begin to think about what you’re choosing. Really think about it.What do you want the results of your choices to be? You can plan out your responses/reactions even if you don’t know the situation or choices you’ll have to make throughout the day. By thinking about your destination beforehand, you can guide yourself to the right choices when the time to choose appears.
Know what you’re choosing.
