God-given gift

We all have one God-given gift. Every single one of us. Some of us use it wisely, some of us may not use it in the best way possible, and some of us don't even realise we have it!

From my research over the last few years and also in spending time to understand what differentiate successful people from the rest, it shows up time and again, which is how they use this gift.

This God-given gift is given to us all. Everyone has it. How we use it will determine our results.

So, what is this God-given gift? It is, CHOICE.

Oftentimes, our choice is a result of our situation.

For instance, if I needed money (situation), my choices could be (choice 1) to get a job, (choice 2) start a business, (choice 3) marry a rich spouse (hee), (choice 4) just live off your parents, or worse (choice 5) to rob a bank!
So, the choice we make in any given situation will determine what kind of results we get.

Say if you chose choice 1. Yes, you get a job and hence receive a salary, which is fine. However, over some time you may see your neighbours getting a nicer TV, a nicer car, a nicer sofa; and hence you wished your salary was higher.

If choice 2 was your option, you may find it extremely difficult to get the first client, have a positive cashflow, you may even realise that you need to develop other skills in order to make some money. Then you may think, perhaps there is an easier way than this.

Choice 3 may lend you with someone who you really didn't love or care. Choice 4 may cause your parents to run out of retirement funds faster than you can say retire and hence you are back to square one. And choice 5, guess we all know what will happen.

Someone once said to me, but sometimes I don't have a choice! I said, "Well, you choose not to see the choice, or you choose to not choose. Now aren't those choices?"

Some of us use our choices subconsiously. We let the event or the environment drives us to choose. If XYZ happens, I will do ABC. If 123 was the situation, than I will take 789 as a step. And the reason we make these choices subconsiously is because, we are already conditioned to the fact that if this happens, I will do that. And when we do something over and over again, and each time we get the same or similar results, we then come to believe that this is law. That there is no other way. True, there are some universal laws that applies to us all, for example night must follow day; spring must follow winter. We do not want to fool ourselves that we can change the seasons or rearrange the planets in our solar system.

Notwithstanding universal laws, we will want to learn to make better choices.

RESULTS (EFFECT) > ACTIONS (CAUSE); where ACTIONS (EFFECT) > CHOICES (CAUSE).

Hence, if better choices produce better actions, and better actions produce better results, than we want to be able to do that over and over again. Sometimes, with the number of choices available to us, how do we make better choices?

I believe that there is a gap between situation (cause) and choices (effect). For instance, sometimes when we look back at how we reacted to a particular situation or to something someone said, and we think to ourselves, "I can't believe I said that!" or "I can't believe I did that!" So, there is something that affects the way we choose our actions.

I have decided to devote my life to engage people in a meaningful manner so that they can make better choices.

Love and respect,
Melvyn Tan