{"id":15558,"date":"2012-04-30T04:00:46","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T09:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=15558"},"modified":"2012-04-30T04:00:46","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T09:00:46","slug":"your-life-is-the-sum-of-your-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/your-life-is-the-sum-of-your-choices\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Life Is the Sum of Your Choices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I signed up to run the Country Music Half Marathon in January. The big race was on Saturday, April 28th. But I didn&rsquo;t run.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/iStock_000017906987Small.jpg\" alt=\"A Man with Two Choices - Photo courtesy of &copy;iStockphoto.com\/eyetoeyePIX, Image #17906987\" title=\"iStock_000017906987Small.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"570\" height=\"379\" \/><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:10px; line-height:12px; margin-bottom:10px; margin-top:0px; padding:0px; text-align:center; width:570px;\">Photo courtesy of &copy;iStockphoto.com\/eyetoeyePIX<\/div>\n<p>With the launch of my new book, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/platform\" title=\"Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World<\/a><\/em>, and several other projects in the works, I just didn&rsquo;t have the time to do the distance training I needed to do in order to participate. (I have kept up with my normal running routine; I just haven&rsquo;t done the extended distance work.)<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, several friends asked me how the half marathon had gone, including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.takepermission.com\/\" title=\"Andy Traub&rsquo;s Website\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Andy Traub<\/a>. Here was my exchange with him on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/exchange-with-andy-traub.png\" alt=\"Exchange with Andy Traub\" title=\"exchange-with-andy-traub.png\" border=\"0\" width=\"530\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This situation made me realize again the importance of owning my choices.<\/p>\n<p>We can&rsquo;t always choose what happens to us, but we can always choose how we respond. <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Viktor_Frankl\">Viktor Frankl<\/a>, an Austrian psychiatrist who survived two-and-a-half years in Nazi concentration camps, made this case in his bestselling book, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0807014273\/fwis-20\" title=\"Amazon: Man&rsquo;s Search for Meaning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Man&rsquo;s Search for Meaning<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s easy to subscribe to this in theory, but what about your specific situation? Are you willing to own it?<\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are you in a job you hate, living for the weekends?<\/li>\n<li>Are you unemployed or can&rsquo;t find a job?<\/li>\n<li>Are you stuck in a bad marriage or going through a divorce?<\/li>\n<li>Are you overweight, out of shape, or sick?<\/li>\n<li>Are you lacking deep, meaningful friendships?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I am not asking these questions to shame you. I have gone through my share of setbacks and failures.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I have been fired (<a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/three-lessons-i-learned-from-getting-fired.html\" title=\"Post: &ldquo;Three Lessons I Learned from Getting Fired&rdquo;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more than once<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>I have gone through <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/turning-failure-to-your-advantage.html\" title=\"Post: &ldquo;Turning Failure to Your Advantage&rdquo;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a business failure<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>I have felt stuck in a job I hated.<\/li>\n<li>I have gone through a protracted and expensive <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/who-are-your-%E2%80%9Ctrusted-advisors%E2%80%9D.html\" title=\"Post: &ldquo;Who Are Your &lsquo;Trust Advisors&rsquo;&rdquo;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IRS audit<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>I had to have <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/009-is-work-life-balance-really-possible-podcast.html\" title=\"Podcast: &ldquo;Is Work-Life Balance Really Possible?&rdquo;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">emergency surgery<\/a> when my gall bladder ruptured.<\/li>\n<li>I have had a child in rebellion and on drugs.<\/li>\n<li>I have had two daughters with chronic illnesses.<\/li>\n<li>I have lost money on three out of four houses I&rsquo;ve owned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>No, my life has not been a bed of roses. I&rsquo;ll bet yours hasn&rsquo;t either.<\/p>\n<p>But blaming our circumstances or other people&mdash;even when they are partly or almost totally responsible&mdash;only makes us <em>victims<\/em>. It robs us of our freedom and keeps us stuck.<\/p>\n<p>There is a better way. Change is possible. It can begin today.<\/p>\n<p>You don&rsquo;t have to stay stuck in the state you are in.<\/p>\n<p>But first, you must own your specific situation and take responsibility for the choices that led to it. Only then can you begin to create a different future.<\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000033; font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom:16px;\">Question: What situation do you need to own? You can leave a comment by <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/your-life-is-the-sum-of-your-choices.html#respond\">clicking here<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The secret to change is the willingness to accept responsibility for our choices. Once we do that, anything becomes possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":15556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1053,410,527,1247,522,1248],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Your Life Is the Sum of Your Choices<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The secret to change is the willingness to accept responsibility for our choices. 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