Choice

This powerful little word can be described and discussed in many ways, but placing the choice first? This is new for me.

One of the things we are learning this week is the power of being able to choose how we feel about things. For me, the particular application is related to how I feel about the weekly homework. As many have stated, the volume of new daily tasks can feel overwhelming.

Since I get to choose what feeling I attach to a thing, I’ve decided to attach a feeling of enjoyment to the task of doing my homework.

For example, we have a LOT of reading to do each day. Rather than rush through everything as fast as I can, I’m choosing to slow down and enjoy the truth of what I’m reading.

I wish I could say I came up with this idea on my own, but it actually came from an email about learning a new language. It was a timely message that arrived just as my frustration with my lack of progress had escalated. Honestly, I was fantasizing about quitting. I knew I couldn’t, but I was starting to think about it.

I had been so intense about my studies and had put so much pressure on myself that the process itself became unpleasant—I often wanted to avoid it.

I had lost what initially set me on the path to learn Spanish: the desire to communicate. Instead of focusing on connection, I became focused on measurable improvement. There was no fun or enjoyment at all—just frustration and disappointment.

It turns out that when we are having fun, our brain actually works better. It learns faster.
So I intentionally changed things and started doing “Spanish things” I enjoyed—and sure enough, improvement followed naturally.

Just by shifting how I felt about it—choosing to enjoy reading a Spanish book I only understood about 50% of the words—I found myself understanding the story and picking up words by context.

I took those learnings and applied them to my Master Key Experience (MKE) journey: Enjoy it. And since I want to get as much as possible from this process, I remind myself of what Mark J said—the more we can boost the emotion, the bigger and faster the results will come.

Well, I don’t have time to waste, so I read my DMP with gusto—while pacing and sometimes even jumping a little!

I am entirely committed to trust the process…even when it feels weird.