[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/choose-more\/choices\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/choose-more\/choices\/","headline":"Choices","name":"Choices","description":"You have to live with them. You are where you […]","datePublished":"2023-05-15","dateModified":"2023-03-01","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/author\/algorithmlife\/#Person","name":"algorithmlife","url":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/author\/algorithmlife\/","identifier":1,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d9ce54bf7884db06c868d4c3d9f401d81cecc940d6403409642a6a34d06caa8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d9ce54bf7884db06c868d4c3d9f401d81cecc940d6403409642a6a34d06caa8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Person","name":"Dave Burnett"},"url":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/choose-more\/choices\/","about":["Choose More"],"wordCount":574,"articleBody":"You have to live with them.You are where you are because of the choices you’ve madeThe choices you make are yours.\u00a0 Own them.What do you do, when no one else is looking.You always have a choice, even if it’s only how you perceive something.Not deciding is a choice.Opportunity cost.You are where you are because of the choices you’ve made.\u00a0 It’s really that simple. You chose to date that person.\u00a0 You chose to have that career.\u00a0 You chose to stay home, or go out, or do that thing.\u00a0 Not every choice is consequential, but they all impact you in some ways over time.\u00a0 There are major life choices, that you make with the information that’s available to you at the time.\u00a0 There are other choices you make because they are easy.\u00a0 Whatever choices you’ve made, they are yours.\u00a0 Own them. The interesting thing is you always have a choice, even if it’s only a choice in how you perceive something.\u00a0 This sounds easy, but is perhaps the most difficult thing for you to do.\u00a0 If something bad happens, it’s easy to place blame.\u00a0 But what about when something good happens, are you as quick to place blame for that good thing?\u00a0 Or are you more likely to take responsibility?\u00a0 Did the good thing happen because of something you did, and the bad thing because of what someone else did?\u00a0 This is a choice. The stoic way to approach this is things just happen.\u00a0 Not good, not bad, they just happen.\u00a0 They are just things that happen to you.\u00a0 What matters is how you react to them.\u00a0 I find great value in this approach, but don’t take it to the extreme, because it abdicates any responsibility you may have in the outcome.\u00a0 My thought is to do your best, your maximum effort, but be grateful for whatever outcome you get.\u00a0 Gratitude is much better than indifference, even if you are simply grateful for the lesson you’ve learned in failure. One of the true tests of character is what you choose to do when no one is looking.\u00a0 How do you spend your time?\u00a0 What are you striving towards?\u00a0 Did you choose to make your bed?\u00a0 Or eat that salad?\u00a0 Or read that book?\u00a0 Are you choosing to make progress, to swim upstream, or to go with the flow?\u00a0 How are you doing things when no one else is around? You should know there is an opportunity cost of choices.\u00a0 Odds are you have limited resources at the moment and you only have the same 24 hours in the day we all do.\u00a0 You can only do one thing or the other.\u00a0 You can’t play a game of hockey, and have dinner with your mother at the same time. So with every choice, there is some opportunity cost associated with what you didn’t do.\u00a0 What you chose not to do.\u00a0 But all you can do is make the best choice with the information you have at the time.One final note:\u00a0 Not deciding is a choice.\u00a0 Even if you don’t want to choose, that is a choice.\u00a0 By just letting things happen, hiding from the reality of the world, you have to realize that you will then have to deal with the outcomes, whatever they might be. And that is a choice you will have to live with."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Choose More","item":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/choose-more\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Choices","item":"https:\/\/algorithmforlife.com\/choose-more\/choices\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]