Feel Good About Your Choices

The most basic, fundamental unit that determines the trajectory of our lives is our choices. The results we get are dependent on the actions we take, and the actions we take come from the choices we make. To achieve the result of a better and more fulfilling life, we need to make better choices. 

We are constantly making choices, positive and negative, consciously and unconsciously, and each choice we make slightly alters the direction of our path. James Clear in 'Atomic Habits' demonstrates this as a tree where for every good choice we make branches up and every poor choice branches down.  Brian Johnson with Heroic calls these "+1s" and "-1s" with the intention to identify and choose the "+1" moment to moment.

That’s what it means to feel good about the choices we make. We know it’s serving our highest good. We know that what matters more is the pride we feel at the end of the day and not the pleasure of indulging in a moment. This should be the filter you use to arrive at making better choices. 

However, there are times we make choices that feel perfectly well-reasoned, only for them not to pan out and lead to negative results. A negative result doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad choice. We can feel good about the choices we make as long as we feel good about the intention we had with it, given the level of awareness we were at.

Our feeling of things is our own perception. The outcome of any event is dependent on the meaning we assign to it, and the same goes for our choices. So let’s have grace when we feel like we did things for the right reasons but didn’t get the result, and let’s have the discipline to try our best no matter the temptations we have or the low motivation we may feel. 

If you make choices with those two things in mind, a good intention and disciplined follow through, you’ll be set up to feel proud of the way you’re showing up in the world.