People make choices

So, there you go. An October Friday spent up in the Peak district walking with Freshwalks. To get a full feeling for this post, take a look at this 14 second youtube video

How did we sum up the day? ‘A bit blowy’. ‘A refined form of lunacy’. But then more positively – ‘a great day out’. ‘A challenge that we got through together’. And it got me thinking about a principle within NLP that I use in coaching and mentoring;

the presupposition that People make the best choice that they can, at the time.

For us, our activity, walking in difficult conditions, gave us: an adrenaline buzz, camaraderie, accomplishment. Did it really ‘give’ it to us? No, but it put us in a position to make a choice and we chose the positives.

But what about the flip-side? Drained, demotivated, exhausted. They were choices that were also available to us (and trust me, they were available in shovels full) but we chose the positive. Same conditions – completely different choices.

I think it boils down to the words in capitals here: people make the best choice THAT THEY CAN, at the time. ‘That they can’. If our mindset has been closed and negative towards the experience, perhaps ‘cold, wet, miserable’ would have been the only range of choices available to us.

But we were open-minded to the outcome of the day, even with the weather forecast. We were open-minded, non-judgemental and so had a wider range of choice. We were able to make that best choice.

Convert that open-minded, lack of judgment into your working environment. Imagine how it will feel to have a wider range of choice in how you respond to the challenges that are coming your way. It's your choice.

The challenges and opportunities aren’t going to go round you: be in a state to make the best choices that you can.