Creating, Setting and Achieving Goals… It’s All About Choices!

To achieve anything in life, it is all about making the right choices to do so, isn’t it?

It is true; we can only succeed at any given opportunity if we make the right choices. This reality became crystal clear to me recently when talking with my father on Thanksgiving Day about a brother of mine who leads a very challenging life, to say the least. My father constantly “flip flops” on his position regarding my brother from one day to the next. One day he’ll say he’s going to have him arrested for trespassing, the next day, he feels sorry for him and wants to help him. It’s a classic scenario, to some degree, that affects many families throughout our culture. There’s always that one “bad apple” that creates all the drama and infuses so much tension into the holiday season.

As my father and I were sitting on the back porch just relaxing after a “Grade A+” Thanksgiving meal, he talked more about his frustrations and his guilt regarding the things that had or had not been done in the past to ensure a better path for my older brother. I’ve heard so many of these tired self-analyses with no change in behavior that I tend to drift off when he starts talking about it all. But then my father said something that grabbed my attention. He said, “You know, your brother is very smart – he’s probably the smartest of all of you kids”. Now, aside from the fact that the delivery of the message wasn’t the greatest, I understood what he was saying. And, in fact, I actually agreed because it’s true.

My brother was, to my memory, very smart. He was one of those guys who could strip down an engine and put it back together and it would run better. He could fix any given troubled spot in the house – the plumbing, the electrical, you name it. He was very quick witted too, always had something funny to say that would really bring about the warm, loving, and funny side of his personality.

But the trouble was his lack of making good choices in life. Instead of making the right choices, he chose to always live life on the edge. Whether it was getting in trouble with the law, the numerous car accidents while driving intoxicated, or borrowing money or cars or tools, he chose the easy way out every day. He would never pay the money back; he would crash the car; he would lose or break the tools. It was one bad decision after the next for the past 40+ years. It has been like watching a very long B-rated movie with a bad ending. In the end, he’s just pitiful, with no one to blame but himself, but always looking for another scapegoat to explain why he made these bad choices. So many years lived and nothing to show for it but a rap sheet a mile long.

So, this comment from my father about how “smart” my brother was… well it jolted me as you can well imagine. And my response to him was, “Dad, how old is Barack Obama? The response was correctly, “47”. The next question I asked was how old my brother was. Again, the answer was, “47”. So I said, “Dad, I agree this brother is probably smarter than all of us “kids”, but it really isn’t about being smart is it? It really isn’t about being the smartest kid in the class - ever! It’s about making the right choices in life! He’s the same age as our next President of the United States, but far from leading a productive or successful life!”

Whatever our political leanings, the story of Mr. Obama’s life in contrast to my own brother’s, illustrates the power of choices in one’s life.

Let’s look at Barak’s life and some of the significant events that shaped his life (many of them very challenging events):

1961 - Barack was born in Hawaii. His mother of English, Irish and German decent; his father was Luo, which is an ethnic group from Kenya.
1963 - His father left his mother and returned to Kenya when Barack was just two years old.
1964 - His mother re-married a man from Indonesia.
1967 - The family moved to Indonesia to live and Barack stayed there until he was ten years old.
1971 – Barack was sent back to Hawaii to live with his Grandparents.
1972 - His mother returned to Hawaii.
1977 – His mother left to go back to Indonesia.
1979 - Barack graduated from high school in Hawaii.
1982 – His Kenyan father died in Kenya in a car accident.
1994 – His mother returned to Hawaii once again.
1995 – His mother died of cancer.
2008 – Barak Obama was elected 44th President of the United States.

Looking at his life, we see a man who has had plenty of challenges which he could have used to “excuse” any series of bad decisions in his life. Instead, he chose hard work and determination.

He chose success. The only way to achieve real success in life is by making the right choices, and that will make all the difference.

Choose your success today.

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