Everyday we make choices as leaders – choices about how to spend our time, who to meet with, what to focus on, and the way we engage our teams. We try to make choices that create the outcomes we desire. Yet, the choice with the greatest influence on achieving the future we want is the one we are completely unaware we are making. What is this choice? Years ago, we lost a number of large oak trees in our yard during a massive storm. I thought we’d use a bit of the wood for firewood and with a wedge and sledge hammer, I quickly split some logs. I remember thinking how it was  much easier to split the wood with a sharp wedge than with the blunt force of a sledgehammer alone, yet how often in life I was content to use a hammer without a wedge.

Results are like the wood I was splitting. They are a lot easier to achieve when we use a sharp wedge–the Wedge of Results. The Wedge is the things we think and do that naturally build on each other in a way that leads to the outcomes we seek. Simply put, the wedge means results flow from action, actions from thoughts, and thoughts from our mindset.

So what does this wedge have to do with choice? It is our choice about what mindset we have–how we view the ourselves, others, and the world around us–that deeply influences what we think, do, and achieve. Yet our mindset frequently exists below our awareness, where it exerts remarkable influence over our thoughts, actions, and therefore the things we accomplish.

Everyday we choose our mindset. We have the agency to choose whether we react or create, whether we treat others like an object or a person, whether we fear change or stagnation. What will be your mindset today?

Make a conscious choice!