The Power of Choosing

Sep 27, 2016

What is your default setting?

Daily grind – often defined as routine or boredom that each of us experience in our jobs and everyday life. It is also referred to as water in the short book titled,“This is Water,” written by David Foster Wallace. Everyone has experienced crowded grocery aisles or traffic, where our typical response is negative and often self-centered. This thought process is common, and is our natural default setting to think that everything is about me and my desire to get home, or my hungriness, or that my needs or feelings are more important than others.

Each of us has the power to choose and with a little effort, you can change how you think and react to situations. We have the power to decide what has meaning and what doesn’t, or to continue operate under our natural default setting. Having this ability creates awareness of “water.” Next time you’re in a stressful situation, respond by choosing to think openly and optimistically.

“It is hard to make that boat go as fast as you want to. The enemy … is resistance of the water ... but that very water is what supports you and that very enemy is your friend. So is life: the very problems you must overcome also support you and make you stronger in overcoming them.” – George Yeoman Pocock

Start thinking positively on all those small situations. Eventually your behavior will change overall to have a more positive outlook in general that will lead to better productivity and interactions with others.

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