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Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith Become an Author

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Recently I attended a conference here in Northwest Indiana and one of the speakers made this statement:

"The choices we make are driven by the choices we have."

As I looked around the room, it appeared from the non-verbal body language (nodding heads) at least three quarters of the room (approximately 50 people) agreed. My own reaction was "Hogwash!" Statements like this only restrict growth be it business, sales, innovation, professional development or personal self improvement and truly do not demonstrate effective leadership.

Imagine if any of the renowned leaders of the past such as the great scientists, other experts from technology to human freedom or even the Founding Fathers of the USA embraced this ridiculous statement? Would we have traveled to the moon, have mobile devices, improved human freedom or have the U.S. Constitution?

This statement limits human potential and therefore opportunities. Sure many people do not have the same choices as others. However, that should not be an excuse to keep individuals from pushing the envelope, to going further than others before them.

Another negative consequence of this type of thinking is that is subscribes an excuse for failure. I cannot achieve what I need to achieve because I am limited by my surroundings. Then this self limiting belief takes even a stronger foothold and the end result is "victim mentality."

Finally, ongoing thinking from this perspective creates the "disorder" rationale. People begin to look for disorders to justify failure.

Henry Ford is quoted "whether you think you can or you think you cannot, either way you are right." A more contemporary philosopher, Yoda, said "There is no try, just do." Finally, when you change how you look at things, the things you look at will change.

There are always more choices. However, it is up to each individual leader to find those choices and not to fall back on a lazy excuse that your choices are limited by the choices you have.

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