Recently I read a book called ‘Don’t Waste your Talent’ written by Bob McDonald and Don E. Hutchinson, which takes the reader on a journey towards creating his or her own ‘Personal Vision’.
The most poignant message of the book was about how deeply our ‘systems’ affect us and our life choices. They use the word ‘system’ to describe the many social groups we are a part of, like our family, our school, our place of work, the city we live in and so forth.
Often we get so caught up in assuming the role our systems want or need us to be that we forget to look inside ourselves to ask , “Who do I want to be?” or “What is the role I choose to play?”
Take a moment to recognize all the systems you currently belong to. Then ask yourself, “What affect are these systems having on my life decisions and goals?”
These social systems become structures that heavily influence and, in a sense, determine our actions. We don’t want to disrupt the social world by acting in a way that threatens the structure ….right?
Wrong!
I say…
Why not push the boundaries?
Why not step out of our comfort zone?
Sometimes it feels like society writes us a script, and we simply read from it. So are we just followers, a part in everyone else’s play?
Through my work as a Youth Life Coach I see the effect that our systems can have, if we let them. It feels like people are programmed by their systems to always take the right “next step”; may that be going to university after high school or having children after getting married. But is that what you TRULY want?
Perhaps your answer is yes….but don’t just assume it to be YES. Ask yourself. Question the system. Don’t just be a follower.
Take control of your life and have the courage to get what YOU want out of it.
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