Change Your Story

What does it take to be successful?

Our lives have many chapters.

We cannot change the chapters of our lives that we have already lived. However, we can change how our story continues today and every day after.

We have the power to change who we are and how our story ends.

We choose how we live each moment of each day. Choose wisely and make your story exciting and meaningful to you and others in your life.

Lesson to Learn

We are the writers of our life stories.

Each day we begin anew in creating who we are and who we are becoming. It is easy to forget this.

We can become trapped in the earlier chapters of our lives and relive the mistakes and poor choices we have made. Or we can create new routines and daily habits that change who we are and who we will become. These changes (some minor and some more significant) alter the course of our lives.

When we choose to change, even incrementally, we become a new person.

Each new habit, learned skill, and kind act we execute helps us become a new person. This new person can then do even more meaningful things, which build into a new life. We are not our pasts. We are our present selves building our future.

Choose to change your ending!

Answer for Me

The power I have to transform my life daily is a superpower we all possess.

Now in my fifties, I can look back and see these decisions and actions for what they now are — transformational. When I chose my college to attend, the US Military Academy at West Point, I decided to learn, lead, and serve my country.

As I lived that experience, I became a different, better person. When I decided to marry Denise, I altered my life for the better. Each day I live with a wonderful person who gives me so much love and joy. When I became the President & CEO of MACNY — The Manufacturers Association, I began a career filled with challenge and service that has truly enriched my life. These significant changes are now evident looking back.

Numerous times in my past, and continuing today, I have made small and large decisions to renew who I am.

Where we go to school, whom we spend our time with, and what our jobs and careers are changes us — and the world we live in.

However, my daily habits of how I treat myself and others also alters my life as well.

These small choices can add to a meaningful life for me and impacts others significantly. For example, when I chose to make daily prayer more frequent, eat healthier and lose weight, and volunteer for community nonprofits, it changed who I was and who I am becoming.

So many small commitments to myself and others are vital in writing a story I am proud of, and that helps others.

Action

What changes to your story are you interested in making?

What minor and significant decisions would positively alter your life, helping you create a better present and future?

We choose who we are and how we live through our decisions each day. Up to 90 percent of our lives are the routines we do each day that can be improved or altered.

Simple habits such as gratitude, reflection, and prayer can be added or increased.

More significant decisions, such as how we work and what we work on, change our lives and the lives of others. Whom we consult and listen to and spend our time with gives our lives meaning and can help others.

Never underestimate the power of good habits and routines to alter your story and its ending. So many daily practices and choices shape our lives.

Choose wisely to modify the future chapters of your life for the better!

Daily Habits

What are the daily habits that make you a better person?

What new routines could you add to your life to make it better? How will you treat those you interact with today? Can you bring your best self to each encounter with others?

You and I will choose who we are each moment of today. Be — and become — the best version of yourself each moment.

Do not wait. Yesterday is over, and tomorrow is only possible and relevant if you live today well. Create your great day with wise and life-giving habits, routines, and decisions.

Each day is a new canvas to use to reveal your masterpiece. Enjoy creating it!

Do you want more insights?

To learn more about leadership, visit me at www.macny.org.

To get a copy of my book Present-Future Leader, click here.