I have often said that the level of success (or lack there of) that you achieve in life is equal to the sum total of the choices that you make. To me this has always meant that what I choose to do or choose not to do is directly responsible for the results I experience; while other people and circumstances may play an influential role only I am ultimately responsible. That single thought puts total control over my experience of life squarely in my hands.Truth be told though, it is a double edged sword.While it is very empowering believing that only you are responsible for your life experience, all that responsibility can bring a certain amount of trepidation.

This is why I have found that this statement arouses so much emotion in people even though the logic behind it is tough to deny.For instance, someone who has just lost everything they own in a flood may say that it was a natural disaster and they can not control the weather.While both of those statements are true are they really the whole story?Shouldn’t the person have known that they were buying a home in a flood plain?Even if they didn’t know, does that absolve them of the responsibility for making an informed decision?Even people who are without a doubt victims of fraud, like investors who lost all of their retirement savings invested in Enron, can not claim they were not ultimately responsible for their loss.It was their choice to put all their retirement eggs in one basket.A practice that anyone who has put more than a dollar into the stock market has learned, sometimes the hard way, is at best risky and at worst potentially devastating.In both cases these people made emotional choices and found ways to rationalize for themselves what they probably knew deep down to be bad decisions. They did not take a well calculated risk which often accompanies the potential for significant gains, instead they chose to gamble and rationalize away their very normal feelings of doubt about what they had chosen.

Rationalization is the conversation that goes on inside our heads selling us on something we desire when our reason and intuition tells us that the direct effect or first order effect of our decision will likely not be good. Rationalizing robs us of our control and sets the stage for us to be the “victim” of some external force when the outcome of our choice is not what we wanted. I won’t go in depth into rationalization here.It is a topic that warrants exploration all on its own. I could go on for pages about similar decisions I have seen otherwise intelligent people make like: buying a business without doing the appropriate due diligence, opting to continue to play a hazardous sport even after sustaining injuries that should have stopped them or buying the beautiful new car that they really can’t afford.In each case these decisions had negative and sometimes dire consequences.In most cases these people chose to blame others for their less than desirable results.They simply could not accept the thought that they had brought about the very situation they were in because of the choices they had made.

These undesirable situations also known as unintended consequences occur when we do not fully explore the first, second and third order effects of our decisions.I’ll illustrate with an example.You all know someone like this.He or she is a hard working employee who wants to rise to the top but only on the merits of their work. They expect others to recognize and reward that work without any further involvement from them.Everyone reading this knows at least one person like this.It might even be you. I know this sounds strange. We would all like to have employees who do excellent work but when we look at the first, second and third order effects of that employees actions, we’ll see why it isn’t enough.

The first order effect of excellent work typically is recognition: a raise, promotion or a bonus.The second order effect is usually that employee becomes the go-to person in the department.They begin to get more and more of the work because they are reliable. Stay with me here.I know this is painful but you know this person. The third order effect is frequently burn out.This is brought on by the increased workload with no further advancement or perks.The fourth order effect is typically disengagement, disenchantment, or the employee leaving the position or company.In extreme cases it can become disgruntlement leading to an increasingly toxic environment and even sometimes sabotage.All of these effects can be traced to the choice that the employee made that just doing excellent work should be enough.

What if once the employee was recognized and began getting more work, he had a conversation with his manager about what was a reasonable workload and prioritized the most important things and then did those?  Then recommended to the manager how he could redistribute the less important tasks to others.  What if he had networked with co-workers and found co-workers willing to help with some of the extra tasks?  What if he had sought out a mentor and gained advice on how to navigate the unfamiliar situation he found himself in?  How might the second, third and fourth order effects of excellent work have changed with a different choice about how to rise to the top?      

In most work environments, the employee who took responsibility for himself, realized that no one makes it to the top on the merits of their work alone and found ways to handle the increased workload would probably be identified as high potential and started on the path to the top that he sought.  At the very least, it would put that employee on a path that did not lead to burn out and disengagement. 

If you’re still with me (and I expect some people will have opted out by this point) you can see that our choices definitely create our results.  Our process for making choices is ultimately as important as the choice itself.  I encourage anyone who reads this to test this hypothesis.  Take a few minutes to complete the activity that accompanies this article.