Are We Defined By Our Choices?

When I graduated from college, I was invited by a friend to attend a business seminar. Most of the speakers were successful business owners who started their businesses from the ground up, and they were in town to help aspiring business owners with any questions they may have had. That day, I had my pen and paper ready to take any notes that I thought would be beneficial. Out of the two hours that I was able to attend, to this day, two sentences that I heard from one of the speakers stuck with me. He told us, "Don’t make decisions based on how you feel. Make decisions based on what your goals are. "

Those two sentences stuck with me because they were applicable not only to the business world but very much so to all athletes. Generally, most players that currently play middle school or high school basketball have dreams of playing at the collegiate level, but what choices are you making on a daily basis to increase your chances?

Are you working hard in the classroom? Are you making 500 shots a day? Are you coachable? Are you respectful of teachers and coaches? None of those questions have anything to do with your physical attributes, but everything to do with a decision that you’re capable of making every day. Unfortunately, we can’t control everything. We can’t control what the weather will be. We can’t control how tall we may be. What we can control, though, is making the best decisions out of the situations given to us.

I read in an article recently that stated approximately 3.3% of all high school basketball players play collegiate basketball. So I’ll leave you with these questions: What choices are you willing to make daily to get there? Are you willing to forego a long-term goal in exchange for a short-term gain? There is no better way to predict your future than by making the daily choices that are necessary to create it.