Failure by Choice

Five percent. After almost two decades of personal coaching, I've come to the sobering realization that 95% of the people that I work with, are not committed to their success, and therefore choose failure.

Only 5% are committed, dedicated, and work consistently and persistently to achieve their goals.

Hello, this is Jonah Mungoshi, on the half hour with Jonah Mungoshi. And today we are talking failure by choice. Whether you like it or not, here is the harsh reality of life.

The person that you add today, what you have achieved or haven't achieved, the goals that you've accomplished, or haven't accomplished, the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction you have with your situation can be traced directly to the decisions you have made and the actions you have taken.

In other words, you are the sum total of your own decisions. Does that sink in? Does that make sense? Every single thought that you hold in your head, every single decision you are making, every single action you are taking is a cause set in motion. And as sure as night follows day, it will have consequences.

Most of us go through life half asleep, subconsciously making decisions, thinking thoughts, and taking actions that are not well thought out only to cry foul, when the results are not what we desire. And the question is to what extent are you conscious of your thoughts, your decisions and your actions?

Important Concepts

You are the sum total of your decisions and actions to date

The extent to which you blame someone or something for your failure is directly proportional to your failure

Focus on what adds value to your life - be conscious of your decisions, actions and their impact on your results.

Let's look at a number of real-life examples. When you sit down to have a meal, you are making a decision, you are making a decision as to the food that you eat, the quantity you will take. And in most cases, you find that people make unhealthy choices. Right now, non-communicable diseases such as diabetes have become a bigger killer than HIV. And yet you find people making a conscious decision to drink as much sugar as they can when there's an option to drink water. That's a decision you're making. And when you suffer the consequences it's really failure by choice.

You know, as well as I do that success hardly ever happens by accident. You don't just wake up one morning and you're managing a company. You don't just wake up one morning and you've got a loving wife lying next to you. You've got to do something for those things to happen. So, if you think you'll be successful, but you don't have a written down plan, how do you think you're going to achieve this? You expect success to fall on your lap like manna from heaven? Come on, get real, it's failure by choice.

You go on social media, YouTube, you name it. And guess what? The highest views, the highest number of likes, are for nonsensical things. Well, some of them not nonsensical, but entertainment value, nothing that builds you, nothing that makes your future better. And so many people, just look at it, 95%, are so busy gobbling garbage, that they don't even have time to plan for their lives, to make sure that they take those plans and put them into action. And when they suffer the consequences, it's failure by choice.

In other words, we're choosing failure by choice simply by what we focus on. And I'm asking you, are you in the 5% or in the 95%? You can choose what you do with your time but you cannot choose the consequences. Once you've made the decision, your fate is sealed, that die has been cast. And as sure as night follows day, you will have to live through the consequences of your decision.

Let me give you one more acid test to check whether or not you are in the 5% or in the 95%. So here is the question. Who is responsible for your failures? If you look at aspects of your life that you're unhappy with right now, if you are unhappy with your marriage, if you are unhappy with your financial situation, if you are happy with your profession, who is to blame?

If you are like the 95% you have alibis to blame. You blame other people. Even if you are the one who asked the girl out you'll find somebody else to blame for your unhappy marital situation. Even if you chose the profession that you went into, out of your whole range of choices, you'll still blame somebody else. Even if you are the one who is managing your own money, you blame somebody else for being broke.

Ultimate failure is blaming other people for the consequences of your own decisions and actions. the extent to which you're blaming those people is directly proportional to the level of failure that you are attracting into your life.

95% of the people major on minor things. They focus on those aspects of life that do not add value in their lives. They are busy expending their lives without investing into their future. If you take an action right now, today, that is akin to planting something, then in the fullness of time you will be harvesting. So, what are you planting today? Are you in the 5% or in the 95%? Answer the questions I gave you in this audio and for sure you'll be able to tell where you belong.

See you on the other side.