You have a choice to think positively or negatively. You can choose to listen to that voice inside your head that says, ‘You’re procrastinating again.’ Or ‘I didn’t have to let that edge creep into my voice.’ Or ‘I’m in a lousy mood and it’s so easy to complain, but what would that accomplish?’

You can consciously choose to stay stuck in non-productive habits and attitudes. Or you can choose something that will make a difference, lead to better outcomes and start the formation of new more productive habits and attitudes.

A good example: The last Tuesday in March it rained in NYC torrents and torrents of water. It didn’t let up all day. It was windy and umbrellas got blown apart and the day got colder as it went on. Of course, a couple of weeks ago I had made appointments so I was walking around the city going from appointment to appointment, most of which were with new prospects. My feet were wet. The bottom of my pant legs were wet. My umbrella broke.

If I went into each meeting complaining about the weather and my lousy luck to have appointments all over the city in the rain, it would put a damper (no pun intended) on the ensuing conversation. Who’s going to hire a negative business coach? So I chose to keep my attitude ‘up’. All day long I walked through the rain picturing Gene Kelly dancing to ‘Singing in the Rain.’ Do you remember the movie? He dances with the street lamp, his umbrella, the curb and the puddles. He splashes in the water enjoying it like a party. I danced my way appointment to appointment singing and splashing and kicking up my heels. I had a great time. My prospects were engaged. I enjoyed every one of them. I had one of my most upbeat days and I was very pleased that all the prospects wanted to continue our conversations.

You have choice in every moment. Every time you do something or open your mouth, you can choose something positive and productive or negative and unproductive. What will you choose? Will you choose to ask for feedback for habits you’ve developed that might be blind spots? Will you choose to dump old habits and form new ones? What will that take? Coaching, journaling, a 360 evaluation, a reflective time away from everybody, creating a trigger to remind you about a change you want to make? Nobody said it would be easy to change existing habits and thought patterns. Will you choose to be helpful or oblivious to what you see going on around you? Remember, not choosing or putting off a choice is itself a choice.

What are the trade-offs? Happy faces, more progress? Seeing more opportunities? Getting unstuck? Not missing opportunities even if you saw them before? How much more profitable could your business be? What better life balance could you have?

How can you apply this to your choices and the choice in every moment? If you’re not sure what you’re missing out on or what other choices you could be making, let’s talk.

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