Episode 153: Make Your Life Choice Now

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, and I have a lot of reflections on a vacation I just took. I went over to California, which is very different than the last 2 years in Norway, and there I saw people who every single day chose to live a life of being on the beach, across the street from the beach, across from the Pacific Coast. If you've ever seen the Pacific Coast, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen the Pacific Coast, seriously, I cannot describe to you the magnitude of beauty that it is and the intensity of the energy that you feel. Nonetheless, these people made a choice, a choice every day to walk up— to wake up. Excuse me, to wake up with that energy surrounding them, with that energy in their ears as they hear the crashing shores, with that energy of being able to walk out and the first thing your toes feel is to stand on the beach. And then I reflected even further in saying that, and understanding that we all make choices that decide what our toes feel. First thing in the morning. Sounds strange, but it's true. Think about it. The choices, the choices you made is the reason why you are where you are right now. Simple statement, but extremely true. The people in California have chosen that every day they get up and they do their yoga, they lift weights, they have this incredible experience every single morning. They made choices or they made a decision or they made a goal and they focused on it. 'til they got there, and that is their life experience every single day. And not just in the morning, but in the afternoon if they choose to go out for another walk in the afternoon, or in the evening, or maybe just to open their curtains and there it all is all day long. What choices have you made when you open up your curtains and what do you experience? I think so many of us, we blame other people for other things. We blame other people for the position that we're in. The life choices we made and all of a sudden we just say, no, well, this happened, that happened, this person didn't like me, this opportunity didn't happen. What the hell did you do that got you to where you are? And stop blaming other people. It became really simple on this vacation. The choices we made in the past explain and define why we are where we are at this very moment as you listen to this podcast. But that's not the end. That's the realization. Now, what choices are you going to make to get yourself out of the situation you're in now? And how many of you maybe say, I'm in a great situation now? Seriously? Really? How many people are truly happy? Study after study, 80% of all the people out there hate— not dislike, but hate— the job that they're in. Somewhere around 40% of the people don't like the person they're with in a relationship. And now some new studies coming out, they're saying— I don't know the percentage, I'll be honest— but a very large percentage of the population is lonely and without anyone. If you overlap those 3 percentages together, most likely you're not all that happy if you really get real with yourself. So simply, the question is this, the real question is this: Where do you want to be? Who do you wanna be doing it with? And how do you want to experience it? Where do you want to be? Who do you want to experiencing it with? How do you want to experience it? Do you want to be on beach? You wanna be at top of mountain! Do you want to be alone? Do you want to be with that special someone? Do you want to be on the top of that mountain with that special someone, hugging, kissing, celebrating, dancing? Or do you want to be on the top of that mountain alone, sitting, contemplating? Taking in the sounds of life. Where do you want to be? Who do you want to be with? And how do you want to experience it? It's totally under your control. What commitment are you going to make right now to yourself so that you or where you want to be with the person you want to be and how you want to experience that moment. It is totally up to you. I was blown away by these people in California. They made that choice and they taught me something. It's kind of obvious, isn't it, when I say it? But the decision, the decision that they made, that they ended up there and they're experiencing it every single day, that's the not obvious part because all of us avoid it. Well, let me just go to work. Let me just, you know, do this, this, that. Oh, this situation is not that bad. Well, you know, days become weeks and weeks become months and months become years and years become decades and you become old and you haven't done a damn thing in your life the same way it is. Make a decision. Make a decision for you. And it's hard. It is really, really hard to get real with yourself. And I think that— not I think, I know— that is the first step. Just accept. I've told this story before, and that when I finally realized that some of the biggest challenges I have when I moved to Norway, when I absolutely realized that, I fell to my knees in the middle of the street because I'd given up. I have had all the excuses. I have blamed all the fingers. I blamed everything, everyone around me. But the realization I had when I fell to the street floor was that the problem was and is me. Once I was able to pick myself up, then I started my destiny, my path. Then good things started happening because I was making decisions based on the fact that Maybe I am not as good as I am. I'm not as competent as I am. Maybe I need to be a hell of a lot better. Maybe I need to be a nicer person. Maybe I'd be more open person. Maybe I need to try different things. I don't know, but I need to change. And maybe that's the problem. We're all afraid of change. How afraid of change? When's the last time you changed yourself? Not change clothes, not change socks, not change clothes. Change you and your behavior. When's the last time you changed your belief system? Are you choosing all the wrong partners in life and you keep blaming them? It's you. Are you not happy? It's you. Is things not going well at work and people don't understand you? It's you. When's the last time you changed you? Most of us had a huge change in high school because we were forced into this semi-version of adulthood. College became this extrovert side of adulthood. Are those the last time you can remember any, any significant change in your life? When was the last time you changed? You must make a decision right now. Right now. Where do you want to be? Who do you want to be with? How do you want to experience it? And when you have that, then what change are you going to make with you, inside you or outside you? Maybe a bigot, maybe a racist, maybe just rude, maybe obnoxious. Get real. Are you? Are you loving? Are you caring? Are you nurturing? Are you a listener? The qualities of great human beings. You shouldn't just not be one of them, you should be all of them. Go forth and spread beauty and light and yourself, but spread the beautiful part of you. Matter of fact, spread all of you, but a beautiful version of you, that permanent version of you, not the made-up one that you made up in high school and college and you haven't really changed since then because that formula sort of worked. Sort of worked is in life. Look at your situation now. If it's close to what you want, get it closer. Matter of fact, hit the bullseye. Life isn't about, eh, okay. Life is about incredible experiences that make your curls, your toes curl. It makes you lose your speech and be speechless because you don't have the words, because you don't have enough experiences in your life to explain what you're experiencing. And that brings me back to the coastal line, the Pacific Coast of California, what I experienced. I don't— I do not have enough words and experience in life to explain what I saw and felt. I wish that for all of you. I wish that for you. I want you, you to experience that. And even though you haven't experienced that right now, you are not experiencing that.

That's okay.

What are you going to do to make sure you do experience that? I love you. I truly believe in you. I have no doubts, no doubts that you can achieve that picture in your head. But first you have to create the picture in your head. Once you got that picture, that picture's yours. Then just walk into the light and make it happen. I'm Thomas Anglero. Until next time.

Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter. Or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.