Video Transcript
Hi, my name is Steve Emt. I’m a two-time Paralympic wheelchair curler, eight-time national champion, and TrueSport Athlete Ambassador. Today, I want to talk to you about decision making and there are three things I’d like you to know.
First, you have the power to make the right decisions. Second, other people, besides yourself, are impacted by your decisions. And third, your decisions ultimately shape your future.
For me, at the age of 25, I made a terrible decision one night to get behind the wheel of my truck after I’d been drinking. Now that decision was completely up to myself. It wasn’t my friends. It wasn’t anybody I was with. They weren’t forcing me to drink. They didn’t force me to drive home. I made that decision, and it’s something that I have to live with now.
Now, I didn’t understand the impact of that decision until a couple of days later when I woke up from my coma and I saw my mother and my sisters and my brother, and all the loved ones that were waiting for those two days when I was in a coma, wondering if Steve was ever going to wake up. The impact that had on them was something that I have felt every day now for the rest of my life.
Despite the terrible decision I made at the age of 25 to drink and drive, a lot of times in life we are judged being successful on how we overcome adversities. For me personally, the last eight years have been an incredible journey traveling around the world competing for Team USA, the greatest country in the world, on the grandest of stages. And the last eight years have allowed me to define the values which have made me a successful individual.
Values provide a personal sense of what is right or wrong and they tend to influence our attitudes and behaviors while helping to shape our overall character. Learning to lean into our personal values and consider the ethics behind a decision can help lead us to making the best decision for any circumstance we may find ourselves in.
So, the next time you’re faced with a tough decision, I encourage you to start by identifying the problem, listing the possible solutions or choices you see, identifying the potential consequences each solution or choice might have on others, practicing confidence as you lean into your values and ethics, and trying to make a decision you feel good about even reflecting back on your actions days, weeks, or years into the future.
We are all faced with making tougher decisions at some point in our lives. Owning our decision-making power, considering others, and shaping the future we hope to have are all decision-making tools we can continue to sharpen through experience. So, go out, continue to make the best choices for yourself and those you care for, and I know your future will be a bright one.
