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“Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” 

John C. Maxwell

A decision is defined as a “conclusion or resolution reached after consideration.”

The first two Decisions we must make were set the “Bar” and to “Be Better”.  The Discipline mind desires to not only set the standard, but to also strive to improve and fine tune each area of their life.  There are many decent athletes in the world today, who in fact have a lazy mindset.  Pushing through a workout and excelling in the physical does not always conclude a discipline mindset is present.  One can be the best athlete in the gym and yet live a disorganised and dysfunctional life.  The lack of discipline to improve all areas of our life is an indicator of weakness.  It will require work, but as mentioned over and over, anything worth doing will always require labour.  This is not only on the gym floor or at the office, but in the home (especially), coffee shop, friendships and every aspect of our life.  In order to be better, as introduced in our last instalment, we must decide to:

Blame Not

Casting blame on others has become a pastime and boarder line epidemic in our modern society.  When we refuse to blame others for our circumstances, we are granted protection, as discussed before, furthermore when we make the decision to Blame Not we are given: 

Power

In other words, we are to take Responsibility, no one owes us anything in this life.  We are accountable for our own choices and responsible for the decisions we make as well as the effort we place into such decisions.

I will be the first to admit, life is difficult at times, maybe not all the time, but when you hear of the atrocities occurring around us, the savage and senseless attacks by hate-mongers in the world.  Yes, if we focus primarily on the negative we will have a pretty dismal outlook on the life we live.  It is no different if we only focused on the positive things in life we have an outlook which is not reality.  There must be a sensible balance in our life and attention.

The decision must be to take responsibility of our own actions and stop blaming those around us or even the world we live in.  If life is hard, because of the world, then it is hard for everyone, not just one group or demographic.  The sooner we accept this truth, the closer we become to stepping out of the shadow of the power of others.

Lastly, as we understand when we make the decision to Blame Not, we are given Protection, we have Power (take responsibility) thus setting us in motion to: 

Press

To press means to “exert continuous pressure physically…”  Rather than standing still after a successful choice to take responsibility for our own life and actions, we need to press forward… get a move on so to speak.  Coach John Gruden says, “You never stay the same, you either get better or you get worse.”  Standing still in life will not enhance our ability to improve, once the chains of casting blame for our own situations, circumstances and even predicaments, are torn asunder we have the power to press forward.

Charles Johnson is former Colorado Wide receiver and first round draft choice in the NFL in 1993.  CJ (as he was known) was on the receiving end of a dynamic duo with Kordell Stewert at QB.  CJ spent 8 years in the NFL and set multiple NCAA records at the University of Colorado.  In the 1993 season he had one of the most dramatic receptions seen to date.  He had size, speed, hands and talent, but with all its sophisticated tests, the NFL does not have the equipment to measure a player’s character, heart, drive or determination.  If it did, Charles Johnson would be off the charts.  In an article written many years ago, one reporter described it like this:

It’s not because of where Johnson is at this point, but how he arrived here that makes him extraordinary.  If one were to write the story of Johnson’s life it would be equal parts Boyz ‘N the Hood and Horatio Alger.  His father left home when he was 2 years old.  While growing up in San Bernardino, Calif., Johnson’s mother battled a cocaine addiction, leaving him and his younger sister, Christine, drifting from place to place.  From the time he was in eighth grade until a junior in high school, he lived in 16 different places with an assortment of relatives and friends and in welfare hotels.  Overwhelmed by it all during his sophomore year at Cajon High School, Johnson attempted suicide by swallowing a handful of pills. 

Johnson, survived it all to become a high school all-America football player and a member of the Academic All-Big Eight Conference at Colorado, where he graduated in three years with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. 

“So many kids use the cop-out that I’m black, I’m from a broken home, I’m from a bad neighbourhood, and they do nothing with their lives,” said Jerry Buckner, who took Johnson into her home in 1989 and whom Johnson now calls his mother. “But Charles took all those things and just inverted them. I don’t know how he did it. But he did.”  

He doesn’t dwell on his past and reluctantly talks about it. 

“Looking back doesn’t do me any good, because there’s nothing there,” CJ said. “I’m more interested in what is happening now and what’s going to happen in the future.”

Charles Johnson was and still is an amazing individual, not because of his athletic feats on the grid iron, but rather his success on the field is a result of character he has.  The decision he made to press on, despite being dealt a bad hand in life.  He did not dwell and focus on the past and, to my knowledge, refused to blame others (or at least be absorb by it) he moved on to better days before him.

This is success in the disciplined mindset, given birth to the needed Decisions in our life which are ours to make…

“Set The Bar… Be Better…Blame Not.”