Life can be interpreted in so many ways. We often blame circumstances for our place in life rather than looking at the one thing we can control no matter the circumstances. This one thing is both elusive and obvious at the same time, yet most of the world struggles to understand it. To get a better idea of what the “one thing” is we need to use a comparison.
One of my coaching clients and new friend, Michael Curmi relates this one thing to a song by the Eagles. In the song, “The Hotel California” there is a particular lyric that goes “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.” Michael’s interpretation of this song is people check out of life when they stop having a passion for life and put their lives on “automatic pilot.” They have “checked out” but still function waiting for the next event or the next day. The unfortunate thing and also the wonderful hope is we can check back in!
What is “the one thing?” Victor Frankl the famed psychiatrist put it best in his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Frankl was a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. He had been separated from his family with little hope of ever seeing them again. The conditions brought him near death and he saw those around him marched to the gas chambers. His driving force was “the one thing.” In Frankl’s situation he had a burning desire to do two things, be reunited with his family and to disprove a theory by the founder of modern psychology, Sigmund Freud. Freud theorized that if you strip away every thing that makes us human, our identity, family, our hope, we will revert to an animalistic state. Frankl refused to believe this theory. He believed that there was a power within each person to want to help and make a difference and he saw it throughout the camps. The most powerful statement in the book was “When everything is taken away from us, the one thing we can control is our attitude in any given circumstance.”
What is the “the one thing?” It is your ability to choose how you will react to the failures and difficulties in life. You can blame them on others, on luck, or destiny but in truth it really does not matter. You can control the outcome by never “checking out.” We are all a part of this life, a part or our company, our family but we can only reach the heights of success by believing in our ability to contribute, to make a difference. If you were passed over for a promotion, demoted, divorced or faced uncontrollable circumstances you still had the ability to believe in your own future and to be the architect of your own life.
Michael thanks for the wake up call! Welcome to the Hotel California but in real life you can check back in and live the life you dream, the life you deserve. You are the master of your fate through taking responsibility for your life and working to be the best!