Everything is a choice.

First; a rant. I just made a statement. It is a statement that applies to nearly every person on the planet, so don’t start with me about how some people don’t have a choice. Don’t tell me about the people who are born with handicaps or who are born into poverty. Don’t tell me about something specific you are facing and that you have no choice in the matter. I get it. And by the way, people who are born into poverty and with handicaps often choose their way to success, happiness and prosperity. So don’t give me any of your stupid “But Larry . . .” arguments. I am tired of people coming up with all of the exceptions to everything I post. Of course there are exceptions. Very few things come without an exception of some kind. I can’t write a blog or a facebook posting that deals with every individual’s personal issues. I can’t write a blog that applies to 99% of the people while catering to you, the 1%. I don’t care that you were a middle child born in North Dakota of parents named Lester and Josephine who made exactly $42,936 a year and had an older sister with red hair, a buck-toothed little brother with Tourette’s and a pet rabbit named Floppy and because of all of that, you don’t have a choice; you can’t be healthy or skinny or successful. Yet that seems to be what some of you expect. Seriously folks, you should read my mail. So get over it before you even start. (Whew! I feel better. Now on to making my point.)

Everything is a choice. Health is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Prosperity is a choice. Integrity, honesty, honor, work ethic . . . all choices. Put enough good choices together and you end up with a pretty good life. String enough bad choices together and you’re screwed.

Success is also a choice. Just like being fit, happy and financially secure are all choices. But none of these things are one single choice. Instead they are made up of millions of tiny choices. For instance; eating one 5,000 calorie meal won’t make you fat. But eat a few hundred calories more than you burn every day for a period of years and you end up a tubby. Buying one pair of shoes that you can’t afford won’t make you poor; it might leave you broke until payday, but it won’t make you poor. But spend just a couple of dollars more than you really have to spend every day on a pack of gum or a soda or the like and before you realize it, you’re deep in debt with no way out.

One evening of mindless television doesn’t hurt you but if you do it night after night, your future could be ruined. Being late to work one time probably won’t cost you your job, but do it too often and you will end up unemployed. Don’t say “thank you” once and the next time it becomes easier and soon you will be perceived as ungrateful. Let serving one customer slide through the cracks and tell yourself “Oh well, it’s only one.” and soon you won’t have enough customers to stay in business. In every situation, success at anything comes down to little bitty choices. Choices that are so seemingly insignificant that we cant believe they would have any long term devastating impact, but they do.

Everything ultimately matters. Every little choice you make or don’t make either moves you closer to your goals or farther away from your goals. No choice is ever neutral.

The choices you have made up until now determine the level of successful you are experiencing right now. That’s just how life works: you live the consequences of your choices.

What direction are your choices taking you?