You have the free liberty of making choices every day. What is a good choice? Good choices are decisions that keep you heading in the direction in which you want to go. Bad choices, on the other hand, end up being counterproductive and can quickly begin spiraling into stress, confusion, and despair.
Some of the trickiness of choice-making arises with options that may be pleasing in the short-term but may incrementally steer us off course over the longer term. Just taking that one extra serving of dessert or staying in bed for only another hour more can be choices like this. Some decisions can be a bit dreary or difficult at the time but lead to better directions down the track. Staying home and preparing your own meal instead of going out and risk overeating or completing another session at the gym are examples of short-term discomfort for long-term benefits.
My Top 11 Choices that will always lead to a better long-term outcome:
- Choose consistency, not perfection.
- Choose strength and performance, not exhaustion.
- Choose to focus on the things you can control, not those you can’t.
- Choose to shut up and take action, don’t be a complainer.
- Choose for health and fitness to be a part of your life, not something that takes over it.
- Choose self-compassion as a response to your things not going as you planned, not condemnation.
- Choose flexibility, not obsession.
- Choose to adapt to the circumstances, don’t give up entirely.
- Choose to become the best version of yourself every day; don’t compare yourself to anyone else.
- Choose consistent, small improvements; don’t lust at the idea of overnight success.
- Choose the process as its own reward, don’t rely on the destination to provide happiness.