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Life Accumulates in Our Personal Choice Accounts
By Jim Clemmer
"My philosophy is taking me somewhere. The big question is
where. The accumulation of equity will either be there or won't be there.
Life accumulates. And I'm either accumulating debt that I'll be sorry
for or I am accumulating value that I'll be happy about." —
Jim Rohn, personal development author and speaker
A farmer prayed fervently every night during harvest season for
a fine crop. He pleaded for crops as fine as his neighbors. After one
night of particularly strong lamenting and pleading, the Lord finally
replied. "Ben," He exclaimed, "How can I give you a harvest?
You didn't plant any seeds last spring."
Now is the time to prepare for our next harvest. We can't wait until harvest
time to plant the seeds. We can't strike a bargain to plant seeds once
we see whether the harvest is worth the effort. Kerry was in her forties
and slowly working her way toward a degree on a part-time basis. Many
of her friends and family tried to discourage her from "wasting her
time." "You will be fifty by the time you finally get your degree,"
they told her. Kerry responded, "I wish I would have completed my
degree years ago. But since I am going to be fifty anyway, I want to have
a degree when I get there." Harvest time will arrive whether we're
ready or not. Now is the time to plant the seeds for the coming harvests.
Our choices accumulate in our personal choice accounts. We're accumulating
deficits or surpluses with each decision we make. Here are a few examples:
| • |
After forty, our face is our own fault. It can be etched
with worry or laugh lines. |
| • |
We can have ever strengthening relationships and support networks
or grow more lonely and isolated as time goes by.
Our career expertise and experience can build toward ever-higher levels
of responsibility, choices, and mastery or we can become stagnant,
obsolete, and dispensable. |
| • |
We can continuously grow and prepare ourselves for new opportunities
or maintain status quo and become a victim of "sudden change."
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| • |
Our financial wealth can be growing and providing confidence in
our future or we can be steadily narrowing future choices and planting
seeds of insecurity and dependency. |
| • |
We can keep increasing the levels of love we give and receive or
become ever more distant, cold, and uncaring. |
| • |
Our reputation for keeping our word can build trust or our lack
of dependability can cause people to doubt our promises. |
| • |
We can grow older and wiser as our years accumulate or just get
old. |
As with an active bank account, few of these choice accumulations are
permanent. We are continually shifting the balance of our choice account.
However, the longer our poor choices are allowed to accumulate, the more
time and effort will be needed to shift that balance. So we need to get
started immediately. Doing nothing won't reverse a negative trend. Now
is the time to change the balance in five years from now. Five years ago
we made choices that accumulated into today's circumstances. Time and
change march on whether we're ready or not. Five years from now will arrive.
Our choices accumulations over the next five years will determine whether
we look back with regret or satisfaction.
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Excerpted from Jim's fourth bestseller, Growing
the Distance: Timeless Principles for Personal, Career, and Family
Success. View the book's unique format and content, Introduction
and Chapter One, and feedback showing why nearly 100,000 copies
are now in print at www.growingthedistance.com.
Jim's new companion book to Growing the Distance is The
Leader's Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success.
Jim Clemmer is an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, workshop/retreat
leader, and management team developer on leadership, change, customer
focus, culture, teams, and personal growth. His web site is www.clemmer.net.
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