It’s easy to do nothing but complain about our circumstances.

Sometimes it feels good to vent, but it’s rarely productive.

My guest today, Brad Volz, shares why it’s more effective to implement choice with action to change circumstances.

Brad Volz

Brad Volz

Choice has been on my mind recently.     

I’ve struggled with decision for years. Too often under pressure, I opt for doing nothing. As you can imagine, this hasn’t led to the best results! The most painful was watching my life savings disappear as my stocks lost value and I did nothing. Unfortunately, I’ve done this several times with my stocks and other areas of my life.

But in the last 2 years, I’ve made great progress and share insights from the journey on my blog. At first, simply feeling better was my goal, now I aim to thrive. I’m not there yet, but I have hope and a glimmer of faith.

              “Imperfect action beats perfect inaction every time.” – Harry Truman

Recently, I started a class on living fully that is helping me with my decision challenges. We’ve been working on a decision matrix that identifies areas of our life that may be out of balance, stressing or challenging. Then using a clever matrix of variables that impact our choices, we are evaluating each area to decide if we want to keep doing the item, remove it from our life, or modify it in some way.

The new insight for me has been to evaluate each choice in a systematic way that honors my body wisdom, feelings, thoughts and heart, all together. Not strictly one or two aspects as many of us are apt to do.

The other key insight is how often that I opt for doing nothing. Looking back, I can certainly see the impact. Creating goals and intentions is great, but unless we translate those into action, then our dreams, goals and intentions wither away like neglected plants. We must water them with love, plant them with action and grow them with continued care, commitment and action.

Choice and action must be used together in order to create real change.

Too often in personal development circles, we are told to change our thoughts or feelings and everything will change. That may be true when applied with great conviction or faith. But the average person (myself included) needs to honor our dreams and goals with actions, not just good thoughts and intentions.

Choice is the mental component. Positive feelings are the energy or motivation. Having a great why is a powerful motivator to help keep us moving toward our dreams. And finally, action is the physical component that anchors our dreams and spirit in the world. Choosing love is one of the most powerful choices we can make. If we are unsure about a choice, try to weigh it in your heart or simply ask what would love do?

Choosing from reaction and fear often lead to poor results, whereas choosing from love leads to positive results and growth.

Now it’s time for me to take action.

I’ve filled out my decision matrix and identified some areas in my life that I want to modify or remove. Next up, action! The quote from Harry Truman speaks to the fact that it is much easier to modify our life from a place of movement or momentum, rather than a dead stop. Think about canoeing or driving and you’ll understand immediately. Steering is WAY easier when we are moving! Choice is steering, action is flow or momentum.

Take charge of your life with choice and action working together.

Blessings, Brad

How about you?  How have you  combined choice with action?

Brad is a peacemaker, muse, writer, marketer, photographer, and connector. He’s learning to be more proactive in life using the power of positive attitude, focus and action. When not writing, he enjoys learning, keeping healthy, traveling and spending time in nature.  Connect with Brad on: Facebook, Google+, or his blog “Writing to Freedom”.