The Driver’s Seat A-List: Six Non-Negotiables to Implement Now

Reclaim Your Day, Time and Agency

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In a world designed to hijack your attention and mine, deciding and acting are critical. You must decide and act, and take care because NOT deciding is also deciding. As a longtime teacher, trainer and coach, something I know is this: 

Most people are operating at just a fraction of their potential.

In other words, most people live reactively rather than proactively. How do we change this? We turn this around by asserting Agency — the Personal Agency we’re born with that resides in each of us.

In a world that pulls in a thousand directions, Agency is the radical necessary act of DECIDING and ACTING. It’s your ability and mine to cut through noise and move forward. And know this:

Agency isn’t given — it’s CLAIMED. 

Now is the time for you to claim your Agency. Start by making a short list of specific non-negotiables your own, with particular focus on Point #6.

Driver’s Seat Non-Negotiables

Photo by Vitaly Gariev from Unsplash

To take the reins and get back in the Driver’s Seat regarding our lives and work, asserting Drive and Agency are key. Motivation is good too — it’s great if you have it, but Drive has far more sway than motivation in terms of who and what we become because Motivation is a temporary state linked to mood and external circumstance. That’s not the case with Drive.

Motivation is an ignitor and can be a great tool and catalyst when it comes to taking action, but Drive moves us despite obstacles, despite inspiration, and DESPITE motivation. To get back in the Driver’s Seat of what’s going on with you, where, when and why, make the A-List non-negotiables below your own:

THE Driver’s Seat A-LIST:

1-CONTROL INPUTS: Your phone and drama-prone contacts are hijacking your time and attention. That ping? That notification? It’s someone else’s agenda. Shut it down.

2-ATTEND TO YOUR CIRCLE: Are the people you spend most time with admirable? Inspiring? Are they lifting you up or dragging you down? Tough questions, crucial answers.

3-MOVE YOUR BODY: Not tomorrow. Today. Even 5 minutes will change your brain chemistry, so attend to the engineering miracle that is your body as you build clarity, resolve & resilience. No matter your schedule, figure things out, engage the body and make no-excuses time to train.

4-BECOMING A LIFE-LONG FOREVER LEARNER: Growth lives on the other side of discomfort, perfection, and open-mindedness. Remember too that what you’re not changing you’re CHOOSING.

5-CHALLENGE YOUR THOUGHTS & EMOTIONS: The inner chatter that says you’re an imposter or not good enough? Catch it. Name it and move past it. Your feelings aren’t facts. Don’t believe everything you think. Most limitations are overblown and self-imposed. 

6-DROP COMPLAINING & EXCUSES: Why?Because we can go from new to success and we can go from failing to success but we cannot go from excuses to success. So rather than complain or explain why not, surprise yourself. Take responsibility and action instead.

Please note and be very careful with language, excuses and complaining. Complaining is a potent dream-killer and drive-killer.

Complaining WIRES your brain for negativity, scarcity, why things won’t work out, and it makes all FUTURE complaining far more likely. Over time, complainers find it easier to be negative than to be positive, regardless of what’s happening around them. 

Complaining becomes default behavior, and it is THE major marker of someone who hasn’t taken responsibility for their thoughts, words, the way they frame and perceive, and their own actions. If I could wave a magic wand and eliminate one crushing something that would benefit every human being a thousand-fold, I would eliminate complaining.

Image by Leire Cavia from Unsplash+

In Summary, Agency is a muscle. Exercise it daily. 

Agency is your capacity to cut through noise, think with clarity, and take actions that align with your deepest values. With genuine agency, you transform from passenger to driver of your own life and story. 

Agency ultimately expresses itself in action — Remember: Deciding is not just a mental process. Deciding is not something that starts in the mind and stays there. Real decisions require ACTION. No action — No decision. Actual, genuine decisions are followed by action. Decisions REQUIRE Action. No Action — No Decision.

Remember too that complaining is a dream-killing, drive-killing, dead-end junkyard. Eliminate complaining from who you are and how you roll — you’ll note big change and will note it fast.

The good news? Opportunity is here and it’s yours. This is YOUR life. What are you going to do with it? How are you going to serve people, this world and greater good? Decide and Act, and remember that no action = no decision. No Action — No Decision. No Action? No Decision.

What’s one input you’ll curate today? What’s the state of your circle? What will do in terms of fitness today? Pick one item from the list and Act. DO SOMETHING in the next 24 hours. Your Agency and future self await you.