I often hear people complain that they lack the ability, resources, talent or power to make their life the way they want. ” I don’t have the money”, ” I don’t have the time”, ” I don’t have the support” or ” I don’t have the opportunity” etc…

It is true that all of us are born under different circumstances. i.e. some of us are born rich, while others are born poor. Some of us are born with loving and encouraging parents while others are abandoned at birth. Some of us are born physically strong, while others are physically weak.

However, I believe that God gave us all ONE POWER. No matter your race, family background, nationality, we all have this POWER given to us. This POWER can be used to transform our life into anything we want it to be. This POWER can be used to achieve any dream we want or it can be used to destroy our life.

This POWER I am referring to is the power to CHOOSE. From the time you wake up in the morning till the time you go to bed, you have the opportunity to make thousands of choices every second.

It is the CHOICES you make every hour of every day that constantly shape the direction of you life. Think of all the choices you made (consciously and subconsciously) since you woke up this morning. You had the choice to wake up early and do a workout or choose to oversleep and get up at the last minute.

You chose the kind of food you put into your mouth. You chose what to read when you looked at the newspapers, Internet or TV (did you read the finance section, lifestyle section etc…).

If you are financially wealthy today, it is the result of the culmination of ALL the choices you have made everyday for the last so many years. You probably chose to learn how to invest, chose to invest prudently, chose the right career for yourself, chose to research investments, chose to read the financial news,chose to save money, chose not to spend money on what was not necessary etc… At the same time, if you are broke today, it is because of all the different choices you have made.

You have a Choice in Life. So, Choose to Win!

So you see, You can choose to be a winner or choose to be a loser. You can choose to be rich and successful in your future or choose to be poor and unhappy. You can choose to be lazy or choose to be motivated.

Success and happiness is not something that just happens to you by accident. It is a choice that you make.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, ‘wait a minute…’ ‘ There are many things in my life that I had no choice over!’ I did not choose my parents. I could not choose to be born rich instead of poor nor could I choose to be smart instead of slow, good looking instead of average.

Yes, while you may have no choice over what happens to you in life (I call it the outer world), but you have 100% choice over your own THOUGHTS and ACTIONS (I call this your inner world). Your thoughts and actions are what really matter because they are the ones that determine your success, wealth, health and happiness.

By choosing the right thoughts and actions, you have the POWER to change what happens in the outer world. You have the POWER to achieve any result that you want!

When You Change Your Inner World, The Outer World Will Follow

One of my friends, Kate, shared her story with me. Ever since she was young, her mum had this habit of putting her down. She would say, ‘you are always so lazy’, ‘ you are so forgetful’ and ‘how can you succeed?

At first, Kate let herself be discouraged by her mum’s words; she felt inadequate and didn’t dare to reach for her goals. She kept wishing that she had a more encouraging mum.

Then one day, after talking to me, Kate learnt that she had the power to change her life. Although she could not change her mother, she could choose to change her thoughts and actions. She decided to think positively, ‘I can do it! I will prove it to my mum!’ and she started taking positive action by believing in herself and working harder.

When she started to change her inner world, her outer world began to change. Sure enough, with a lot more motivation & self-confidence, she started to achieve more success in her grades and her tennis. When her mum saw her success, she changed too. Instead of putting her daughter down, her mum now praises her in front of their relatives. The funny thing about life is that when we change, the people around us all begin to change.

Your Past Does Not Determine Your Future

If you are getting lousy results in your life right now because of wrong choices you have made in the past, don’t worry! It is never too late to change. The past does not equal the future.

Just because you have gotten lousy results in the past does not mean that you will always get lousy results in the future. Just because you have not been getting along with your spouse/parents/boss in the past does not mean that things will be the same in the future. The future depends on the choices you make right NOW, in the present.

The good news is that if you start making positive choices TODAY, you can create the success that you want TOMORROW. Today, is a brand new opportunity for you to make things right!