Your Decisions Define You

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero. Do you ever think about how your life is defined by all of the little decisions that you made? The left turns and the right turns. That you made in your day. Does that sound kind of weird to you? Let me— think about it. Let me tell you, last night I was at IKEA. Don't judge me. I was at IKEA like the rest of us, though we don't want to admit to it. And as I walked through IKEA, I could listen to people talking about their lives and what they're doing and how they describe their lives, how they describe their decisions, what they're going to do, who's Who's at this? Who's at that? What decision? What kind of place are they in? You hear all these different people and all these different lives they're having. But if you close your ears and look around, we're all in the same place and we're all doing the same thing. But what has led us here? What life are we living outside of being inside of this store together? See, we're all the same, but we think we're so different. But the difference comes from the decisions that we make every moment of the day. Literally, decision when you're walking through IKEA and you're following the arrows on the floor and you decide to go left instead of going right. So I decided to look for this knife. We needed to buy a knife set or something. So I decided to look really hard when usually I would just grab something because I'm at IKEA, I'm annoyed. And because I made that decision, I made a left turn instead of a right turn, understand? I ended up running into one of my old players that I used to coach. Many, many years ago. He nudged me on the shoulder and we got very excited to see each other. I haven't seen him in, oh man, 12, 14 years. He's got a kid now. I had the— my kids were little, little kids and he's got a 7-month-old now. He hasn't slept in 7 months since the baby has been born. And he's telling me all these horror stories or wonderful stories, depends on how you take it as a parent. And it's wonderful to listen to that, and it was wonderful to share that moment, and it was wonderful that the decision I made to make a left turn in IKEA and to go to the knives instead of making a right, just avoiding the whole thing, changed my life and got to have a beautiful moment. But life's all decisions. Everything's a decision. These minute decisions that make a difference in our lives. I then got home and something was on the TV and this man was telling a story about, you know, he's wanted for murder and he told his wife, "It's not me, it's not me." And he says, "You know, I made some bad decisions in my life. I cheated on you." And she's like, "Oh my God, you're a horrible person." And then always, and when the people tell their story, they always forget that the man cheated on another with, with another woman. And that woman's horrible too, but we never talk about that part. Decisions. What are all the decisions you made that bring you to where you are now? What little decisions you made to be with someone that then took you down a route that then had implications that changed everything? What decision, what little decision you made that then had you had an encounter with someone or something or no encounter with anyone, and then that led you down a road to where you are now? What decision you made to go to a university and that led you to where you are now? What decision did you make to not go to that university and that led you down the road that you are now. Do you see? But I'm talking, I'm giving examples of big decisions, but even though you make a decision like to go to a school, way back when you went to school, that's just one decision. Once you're in that school and you're walking down the, walking through the grass of the school, going to class, literally you can make a left or right turn that could change your life. And today, right now, when you're going to work or you're at work, you make a left or right turn, you may bump into someone, you may not see anybody, you may overhear something, and that will change your life. Do you understand life Life is nothing but lefts and right turns all the time. The decisions you make, the little decisions you make are humongous. The decision you make to live in fear because of COVID is a huge decision. The decision you make to stop your life and to live in fear is a huge decision. All of these things that are going on, what are you going to do with your life? What are you going to be? Jin Shin I'm throwing a lot of stuff all at once, but we're all the same and we're all product of our decisions. These little decisions, these decisions we think are so little at the moment, but yet they define who you are right now. When I was at IKEA, I realized that the difference between me and everybody else in IKEA was that I made thousands and thousands of different tiny decisions that led me to where I am now. And they made thousands and thousands of different decisions that led them to where they are now. There are some people that are smarter than others, but not by much. That doesn't change anything. What makes a difference is the decisions you make. And just remember, making a decision not to make any decision is a decision. So be aware that every decision you make changes your life. Own it. And then have a wonderful life. Don't be afraid. Don't be intimidated. Don't be freaked out.

Don't go to IKEA for epiphanies.

It's kind of pathetic. I'm making fun of myself. Embrace that the fact that you have the opportunity to make a decision, you have an opportunity to change the way you are. Isn't that exciting? Right now, where you are, what you're doing, you can change it in a heartbeat. You don't like what you're doing? Change it. You don't like that you're overweight or underweight?

Change it.

You don't like your health situation? Eat better. Go to the store, buy some grapes, buy some oranges. You have the power to make a decision to change everything. That's the beauty of decisions. It's not scary. The reason why it's so amazing that you can make all these decisions that change everything is because it's the power you've been given. The power you've been given to help someone else. The power you've been given to fall in love and have someone fall in love with you. That's the power of the decision. That's the power of willpower. So make a decision that will benefit you and benefit someone else and bring love into your life. How's that for ending it on a high note? Go forth and spread beauty and light and make decisions which you have to make every day, but make it for the benefit of you and society and everyone else. I love you. And as you know, I believe in you. Embrace, embrace your life. Embrace all the exciting decisions you have that are gonna make— fulfill you, that's gonna make you feel fantastic. And that's the way you approach life. Make a decision, because that left and right turn you're about to make, it's about to make you very happy. I'm Thomas Anglero. And until the next time, bye for now.

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.