Let's talk about how society influences us and our future behavior. Today, we are going deep into Mindset and the theory around social norms and decision making. Growing up, you were told to follow a certain path.
Where did these norms come from? Are these just some things your parents tell you so that you’d behave or is there more to them? To understand a bit more, let’s start by thinking of your life as a series of possibilities. You start your life with infinite possibilities limited only by, perhaps, your social status. ButAt any given point, you have an infinite number of possible things to choose from; however, your past heavily dictates where you ‘choose’ to go next. Once you make a choice, you take that abstract idea in the cloud of possibilities and you convert that into an action and then a result. And your reality changes to reflect that result. If we continue this process forward in time, we eventually arrive at the end of your life with all of your choices revealed and your life is now in the past with history never to be repeated again. Now, it’s important to note that this VERSION of your life is not the only version that’s possible. In fact, if you could go back in time and select different options in your lifetime, you would have a completely different outcome. In fact, there are infinite permutations of life events possible. And if we charted these on a graph, we would see a normal distribution of possibilities ranging from a life full of despair and a life full of extremes of joy. And the middle being contentment/happiness. So, what do Social norms have to do with this? Well, the norms that I mentioned earlier 1. Go to school/college 2. Get a job 3. Get Married/family 4. Retire well These all represent the most middle point in this distribution. This is statistically, the most common pathway that we take to yield a life outcome that is joyful and full of life. This is the NORMAL lifestyle of a human as described by our society. Social norms and our upbringing will push us towards this eventually. Many in our lives deviate from these paths: Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, - these are examples of societal elites who pushed the norms and did something different with their lives. For that effort, they are rewarded by society in material wealth and appreciation. So, they would fall somewhere right of the graph. So, Why am I telling you this? Well, the short answer would be - control. It’s in your control how your life actually plays out. Now, I understand that many things can happen in our lifetimes which can derail our lives from these socially accepted norms, but, what we do with those circumstances is also within our control. You must choose actions that create the right possibilities for you. If you family life is in shambles, you must take the appropriate actions today to fix the issue or to control it’s impact on you as much as you can so that you can drive your life outcomes towards happiness If your finances are out of control, then, you must learn and get control over your finances so that the other, more important aspects of your life dont have to suffer and compensate for your lack of focus. Mere Awareness of this potential possibilities can make you think of life differently, where you’re not at the mercy of your life dictating where you go, in fact, you are in charge of your life and you ensure that you arrive at an end life that will be meaningful to you.
