Ever have trouble making a decision? Ever had a client waver back and forth on what product or service to use? Ever find yourself unable to close the deal? Ever see others create so many excuses it polarizes decision-making? Ever been in uncomfortable meetings where others reach for their phone to keep the next best choices before them? Each of these situations share one thing in common, the ability of choice. The single greatest power humanity possesses is the power to choose. Think for a moment the number of choices you personally face in any given 15 minute period at your place of work or at home. Whew, that is a lot!
We live in an era of personal choice like no other in the history of humanity. Walk into any coffee shop these days with barista’s furiously pounding away to make their incredible specialized concoction to give you an unprecedented fusion experience of flavor and caffeine (like the Katz Meow at Rembrandts in Eagle, ID) and the choices of bottled taste are stacked so high you can not see the workers. At a local fitness club members are faced with hundreds of choices during a workout from how much time to use a machine; to what speed, resistance, elevation and heart rate to burn calories or cardio; to keeping up with those on their phone; to five different television stations; to their personal listening devices; to who they want to work out next to; and what class they could sign up for.
It is exhilarating to have so much to choose from to make our life more of what we want it to be. SEO’s and other web marketing businesses are designing and redesigning sites, investigating thousands of other sites and blogs, and then writing their own versions to capture the one word or phrase to create choice and influence a certain demographic to ‘click on’ their client’s business site. When an author writes a book, shoes go on sale, the Aflac duck makes you laugh, or a YouTube video teaches, it is entrepreneurship creating choice for consumers.
When we use the power to pile up a stash load of gets or information, we are often left unhappy or feel unfulfilled even after a delicious Katz Meow or hours getting googled, binged, or wikipediaed. Why? It is what inspires your choosing that matters most, not just the rush we get from choosing what we want. Who inspires you? What inspires you? These are important questions to ask when it comes to making choices from family meetings to board meetings to sales meetings to ask.com.
Visited with several different managers at local auto dealerships about customer service and sales training. It is amazing to hear them speak again and again about finding the 'right' words to make a difference in their sales team so they can help create a positive experience for the consumer based on their needs. One Business Development Manager went so far to share passionately, We want to make a positive difference in the lives of anyone who walks through our doors whether they buy from us or not. That is choice creating.
What happens when we see our personal and professional choices actually participating in creating new life; in-spiriting others? Inspired choices create a positive energy. Inspirational choices plant seeds of transformation empowering a positive difference in the world. When we surround ourselves with inspiring ideas, people, and words to help shape who we are, cast a vision to follow, produce positive behaviors and responses, and offer wisdom in how to live our life, our choices cannot contain themselves from encouraging others.
Inspire Excellence
Dr. Tom Lobaugh