Choose not to live inside the box

Living inside the box is a choice.

I grew up in a society where following the norm would be the way of life. We go to school, take extra classes, university, graduate with distinctions, get a job, find a partner, fear the boss, get promoted, get married, have kids, and so on.?

Choosing to do anything outside the norm is fine of course, but it will cause tremendous stress to our life.

Luckily for me, and my brother, we grew up in a rather liberal family. My parents have always encouraged us to be ourselves. Listen to what we want.?

Despite that, the box was everywhere I looked and on a few occasions I’d fall into the norm trap, such as I chose to take the piano lessons although I very much preferred my art classes. Playing the piano is considered as “higher status” than painting animals.

I didn’t realize then, I chose to live inside the box.

In business, when it comes to choosing our career path, we do not typically make an active choice.?

More often than not, particularly when we are starting out, we are following a path that other people want us to follow. We are asked to fill a role we don't really want to fill. We say “sure I can do that” because how else are we going to “climb the career ladder”?

So we choose to live inside the box.

We choose to live inside the box because that’s what other people want us to do. We think we don’t have a choice as we are told we don’t have one.

And during the entire time we are listening to what other people want, we are not listening to what we want.?

Isn’t it crazy that we’d spend hours, months, years listening to what other people want, but a fraction of the time listening to what we want?

What do we need to fulfill our goals? Our dreams?

The 98% don’t dictate our life.?

They tell us we don’t have a choice because that’s their way to keep living their way of life. They know that 98% of us will simply do as we are told because the other way is hard work, and might cause tremendous stress in our life.

Humans tend to take the easy path. A path that is proven, one with less risk of failure. It’s less stressful. Life goes on, right?

Yes, it does for the majority of us humans. And it’s okay if we take it easy. But tomorrow will be what it is today. And I think to myself, does that excite me?

I mean, who’s here for a future that will be exactly as it is today?

The future is up to us.

What if the two percenters choose not to live inside the box?