Countless articles, books, and blogs have been written offering up checklists of things to do if you want to improve. Lists of 3, 5, or 7 things to do if you want to lead better, look better, or love better. From Instagram to Harvard Business Review to the New York Times, fast paths to the Promised Land abound.
And to be clear, I’m not throwing stones at the authors of these Quick Fix lists for better living. Heck, I've written some myself. There's great wisdom in distilling the complex down to the simple. Like a great reduction adds flavor to your cooking, boiling high volumes of professional information down to the essence adds flavor to your career. It yields insights that can change your trajectory altogether.
But somewhere along the way, you come to a decision point – a critical juncture, a moment when you must make a choice.
My wife has always understood this. On more than one occasion in our decades-long marriage, she’s reached the point in a long-standing issue or debate where she’s proclaimed, "It’s just a choice!"
She might have said that to me after years of me lamenting about the 60-to-70-hour work weeks when I longed for more margin. Or maybe when she grew wary of me complaining about being out of playing shape, without having spent any time in the gym. Or maybe it was that season of life I griped about having too many extracurricular obligations, without being willing to say "no" when people asked things of me. Candidly, and my wife knows this, I was insulted by her insinuation that all these things were “simply a choice.” After all, creating professional margin, reclaiming physical fitness, and saying “no” are way more than "just a choice."
Or are they?
Although I resist the notion that life is a series of binary decisions…decided by a choice – there’s great wisdom in this reductionist perspective.
Think about it…
Are you going to be a workaholic or live a balanced life?
Are you going to be healthy or unhealthy?
Are you going to say yes to everything and everyone or will you defend your priorities?
All of these are just choices. Sure, they may be difficult choices. Perhaps choices complicated by your circumstances. But they are choices. And while all the items on the list above could be informed or improved by a checklist… there’s a choice that comes first.
You see, when our cultures’ checklists are paraded in front of us, they strike a chord with us. They proclaim there’s an easy path to realizing our hopes, dreams, and aspirations. But without making hard choices first, these are just wish lists. Vapor.
The next time you find yourself romanticizing the life you’ll have once you implement the checklist of the day, ask yourself one important question first. One simple question before you download, like, or share the checklist. The question? What is the choice I must make before believing I'm going to do anything this checklist suggests will lead to a new me?
It all starts with a choice.
And in the words of John Maxwell, “Life is a matter of choices. And every choice you make makes you.”
Choose wisely!