How Daily Choices Shape Who You Become
When I was growing up, Bugsy Malone was a staple film for children in the UK.
Arguably, I am still growing up and still learning.
The film is a musical parody of gangster films, acted out by children who were roughly my age when I first watched it.
The other day, one of its songs came back to me as an earworm. The more it played in my head, the more I realised that one of its messages has been quietly playing in the background for most of my adult life.
The song carries a hopeful idea that we could be anything we want, and that it is not too late to change. But the part that stayed with me most is the reminder that we are remembered for the things we say and do.
It seems obvious, but the more I thought about it, the more it held.
We make decisions. We choose our words. We choose our actions.
Those choices do not disappear once the moment has passed.
We carry them, and other people carry some memory of them too.
But we are not fixed.
We can change direction.
We can choose different words.
We can act differently.
We can become known for different things.
We are not only shaped by what we hope to become.
We are shaped by what we repeatedly choose to give our attention to.
What we return to shapes us.
The conversations we have, the work we keep choosing.
The problems we prevent, the people we make time for.
The small things we notice instead of leaving them unattended.
None of these choices may look life-changing on their own.
But repeated over time, they begin to form a direction and shape us.
At the close of a meeting I attended this week, I heard the words “be kind”.
It stayed with me because kindness is not only about being pleasant.
It is also about recognising what someone else has already given, and being grateful for it.
That connects to the same idea.
We are remembered for the things we say and do.
What we say and do often begins with what we choose to notice.
A kind word or a moment given to someone who really needs it may not look like much.
Neither does a useful action, a preventative step, or a choice that moves something forward. These are still choices. They are part of what we give our attention to, and over time they shape the direction we move in.
When you write your next Eightly, ask yourself a simple question.
What do I want to give a little attention to today?
You write.
You reflect.
You return.