I’ve been thinking a lot recently about choices. Think about it… You choose what time to wake up, will you work out or not? Will you eat breakfast or grab something later? Will today be a casual day or a day to impress? Will you get to work early or on time? Will you confront or let it slide? Make the call or answer the email? Eat lunch with friends, alone, or with a client? Smile and laugh or focus? The list goes on and on.
But think about the potential impact each of these choices holds.
I think back to high school where I learned about potential energy and kinetic energy. Remember?
• Potential energy is energy that is stored within a system.
• Kinetic energy is the extra energy that it possesses due to its motion.
I think about my choices throughout the day and the varying amounts of energy they may contain.
Choices that are easy, random, and safe probably hold less potential energy than choices that may be difficult, intentional, and out of your “present” comfort zone. (Remember…it’s only out of your comfort zone until you have accomplished it.)
It also stands to reason that if I act on a safe choice, the kinetic energy that is released by that action will also be of a lesser impact than had I acted on a choice with a higher quantity of potential energy. Maybe that’s why when I accomplish a difficult choice, I just feel so good!
So in keeping with the “High School Science” analogy…if I want the trajectory of my life to be at its optimum, both in height and distance covered…I am going to need greater amounts of energy to sustain myself…right?
But if I am happy living my life as a “dud”… (remember as a kid when you lit a firecracker and it didn’t go off…), then the amount of energy really doesn’t matter.
So what’s the point?
I challenge each of us to take a fresh look at the choices we make each day. Look at them through a new lens. Make choices that contain the highest amount of potential energy. So that once you take action on them, you will release a tremendous amount of kinetic energy that will propel you to great heights and distances.
You’re going to make a choice anyway…so why not make it a good one…it’s your choice.