What do you call someone whose decisions have caused them to be confined to a box for a given period of time (such as a year, decade, 20 to life)? Hmmmm… Does prisoner ring a bell? If someone asked you if you would like to go to prison, the obvious answer would be “Hell no! Are you crazy?” Yet, at times we find ourselves sitting comfortably within the confines of a self-imposed jail cell. Would you be surprised if I told you that we (non-criminals) bare striking similarities to prison inmates? Yes, it’s true. Just like inmates, we sometimes make a decision to confine ourselves to mental “lockdown”…our own personal jail-cell. We have chosen complacency over progression. The only difference between us and real-life inmates is that we actually possess a “Get Out of Jail Free Card”… CHOICE. By utilizing the Get Out of Jail Free Card we choose to unlock the door to limitless growth opportunities. What was previously a jail cell has transformed into a breeding ground for success.
Imagine that we all have our own mental box in which we reside. This box contains all of the knowledge, skills, and abilities we have accumulated in our lifetime. Taken as a whole, it is a representation of our potential to achieve certain goals. If we make the decision to remain in the box, it will remain the same size. Our potential to achieve is unchanged. By stepping outside of the box, we encounter knowledge, skills and abilities that we do not currently possess. Importing these “goods” causes our box to expand as we incorporate this new information with the existing content within our box. As the boundaries of our mental box are expanded, our potential to achieve GREATER goals also grows. Our increased value allows us to pursue better opportunities as opposed to finding a way to be content with a “perfectly shitty situation.” The key to this concept is that the growth (or non-growth) of our box is a CHOICE.
In this metaphor, we find two contrasting modes of thinking. The first, we will call the Jail-Cell ideology. Many criminals serving a significant amount of time in prison find leaving to be extremely intimidating. Their fear is due to the idea that prison is all that they have come to know. The fear of potentially failing at living in the outside world generates a level of complacency or comfort with what they have become accustomed to, the cell. Sounds awfully familiar huh? Like inmates, those people that subscribe to the jail-cell ideology escape the fear of potential failure (and additionally growth and development opportunities) by choosing to take shelter within the boundaries of their mental jail-cell. Do you know anyone like this?
After discussing this idea with a friend, a very interesting point was brought up. He said, “If my ultimate goal is to be happy and I’m content with the size of my ‘box’, why should I care to expand it?” After giving it some thought, I figured we’d apply his question to a few examples:
-What happens when a person believes they are “happy” with the urban war-zone of a neighborhood they currently live in? Survival in this neighborhood breeds a literal “kill or be killed” mentality. When confronted with a “kill or be killed” situation, what is the future of this person if he/she has chosen not to learn of other ways to live?
-What happens when a person is content with the skills required to “get by” on the job? Then the economy slips into a “recession,” which requires those with replaceable skills to be laid off.
What will happen to the person who only knows how to generate income through a 9-5 when there aren’t enough 9-5’s to go around?
-What happens when a student chooses school as his single method of obtaining knowledge, but the real-world requires skills that are learned outside of the classroom?
But certainly none of these things would actually happen to you, me or anyone we know, right? (Who is calling bullshit here? LOL)… As humans we underestimate possibility of becoming victims of life-altering negative events…until they happen! Considering the impact of these events, wouldn’t it make sense to insure ourselves against them? How do we do this?... By making the decision to expand our box in order to grow into a more valuable and knowledgeable person. How could the lives of the people in the previous example change if they choose to expand their box? Would a greater body of knowledge and increased ability to make things happen get them into a better situation?
Those of us who subscribe to the second ideology would be a good example for how the above question is answered. We view our box as a breeding ground for success. We understand that expanding our box is a CHOICE. While we may be happy with the knowledge, skills, and abilities we have acquired so far, we choose to expand our box by learning more. The opportunity to explore uncharted territories excites us. Why? Because we develop a new perspective on life and how to become more successful in the goals that we desire to achieve. Our box is not a jail cell where we allow fear to keep us from exploring new opportunities. It is more akin to a growing nation that is searching out new knowledge from around the world in order to one day become a super-power. We have developed ourselves into more valuable individuals to our family, friends, team, and community. As the boundaries of our box expands, so too does our ability to make gold out of the pile of shit life sometimes throws.
Just like Monopoly, you can choose not to use your Get Out of Jail Free Card and rot in jail as you lose the game (of life)....OR…You can choose to use the card and take advantage of life’s GREAT opportunities. If you ever find yourself fighting against the Jail-Cell ideology, the CHOICE you made to read this blog will act as your Get Out of Jail Free Card… And feel free to toss me that $200 as you pass GO on your way to success!
P.S. Anyone that really goes to jail, please don’t tell the police that Darius said you have a Get Out of Jail Free Card. I will not be accepting collect calls LOL!
I appreciate you taking time to check out the message. Feel free to comment whether you are tagged via Facebook or just saw it on a friend’s page.
Darius Gant
Website:
http://www.dariusgant.com Twitter: aa
http://twitter.com/dgant06 Posted via web from Darius Gant's posterous
What do you call someone whose decisions have caused them to be confined to a box for a given period of time (such as a year, decade, 20 to life)? Hmmmm… Does prisoner ring a bell? If someone asked you if you would like to go to prison, the obvious answer would be “Hell no! Are you crazy?” Yet, at times we find ourselves sitting comfortably within the confines of a self-imposed jail cell. Would you be surprised if I told you that we (non-criminals) bare striking similarities to prison inmates? Yes, it’s true. Just like inmates, we sometimes make a decision to confine ourselves to mental “lockdown”…our own personal jail-cell. We have chosen complacency over progression. The only difference between us and real-life inmates is that we actually possess a “Get Out of Jail Free Card”… CHOICE. By utilizing the Get Out of Jail Free Card we choose to unlock the door to limitless growth opportunities. What was previously a jail cell has transformed into a breeding ground for success.
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