We think and act at our best when we have a clear path in mind for where we are determined to end up. By creating a mental map of how we might get there from where we are currently at. This requires a positive mindset, clarity to reach your goal and a willingness to evaluate all the paths available to us. With clear thinking and determination we then make our best decisions, especially in the face of adversity.

The most productive path to take is often the one that is the hardest to accept and to see with positivity. There are often real challenges that will need to be overcome in the pathway to becoming the most productive. If it were that easy, we would already be doing it that way.

Some remain unclear and undecisive in setting their course, only to circle around the problem, avoiding the real challenges. They end up holding short of their resolution to improve, lost in a repetitive and unproductive pattern.

Others are also undecisive and close-minded in the face of the real challenges and their situation actually becomes worse as a result. The undetermined effort actually makes the situation worse for themselves as the challenges arrived. There they languish and give into the challenges.

Others with clear, determined and creative thinking will learn and grow from addressing the challenges. They will become stronger and more productive from the applied changes that they are making and the lessons they ae learning as they reach on the path to their goals. They believed in the productive path they chose and with determination became more successful. They owned the choice to improve and to succeed above the challenges.

Determining the right path is not the easy way, but it is often the only way to improve, learn and reach your goals. Failing isn’t an option for the positive, creative and applied learning thinker. As Jocko Willink states, “Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.”

You decide.

“We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our setbacks, our history, our mistakes, or even our staggering defeats along the way. We are freed by our choices. — Jim Collins —

MITM