The Tribes We Lead

Change, how easy is it to create change? It is not very easy at all, it takes a lot of mental strength and conditioning. There are many times in life where people are faced with an opportunity to change but not many people would jump on board. Creating change takes a special person to be able to not fear the consequences, take a stand, and create change. At work I am surrounded by many people who do not spark a change they merely follow what the majority of the people are doing. It is easy to follow or to be a “sheep walker” as Seth Godin calls it, but as I stated earlier it takes a special person to break free of what the norms are.

At work I will hear my fellow co-workers say different things like “it is too hard to create change, it’s impossible, it will not work, there is too much change, and this is not our problem”.  These are the people that until they reflect on who they want to be will never be able to create a change which might better their life or the life of others. I do not find myself commenting much when people say things of this matter, I just simply understand that many people are content in life as long as their immediate needs are satisfied.

I on the other hand am not content with where my life is at yet, this notion seems to drive my wife crazy. She sees that I have completed my bachelor’s degree and I have a well-paying job so she does not see why I am not satisfied. She does not understand why I am working on my Graduate degree and committing myself to this type of sacrifice. At times I will myself tell myself the same excuses which I hear around me and for a second I will believe it. Sometimes I have to force myself to snap out of the want to just conform to my surroundings, I have to fight the urge to follow and remind myself of the vision which I have. Another way for me to overcome the thoughts of conforming is to think back to where I started in my life and know that I can never go back to that point. There is no way that I would ever want to take steps back in life and I would feel like I have let down my family if this was the case. Knowing that I have to continue to better myself every day is what keeps me going strong and pushes me to continue to change myself for the better.

I feel like I have been working on myself for quite some time, I know that I am almost at the point where I close another chapter of my life and take a leap of faith towards the next portion of my vision. I know that I have to take this leap soon but I have not known exactly how I will do it, Seth Godin’s TED’s talk has given me an idea. In his talk Seth discusses how change is driven by tribes, I think that he makes many valid points. A tribe will connect people and ideas, it is up to me to start my own tribe; I need to find like-minded individuals who are also ready to make a change in the world.

It is difficult to make a movement on my own but with strength in numbers many things can be accomplished. I might have many ideas but with a tribe we can find the one thing that matters the most to us and create a movement. Rather it be trying to find a way to make more money or to change an injustice in the world which we have an issue with; having a group of people that will back you up is essential.

 At the end of the TED’s talk Seth tells us how to create change, he said that we have to “challenge everything, change the culture, and then commit. Once I have completed school and I am ready for that next step, I will make sure that I distance myself from those who say change is impossible, force myself to chase my vision, and surround myself with a tribe that believes in me and our goals. These are definitely key ideas which I can take from this exercise to better myself and push myself to someone who I do not yet know or recognize yet.      

Reference:

Godin, Seth (TED). (2009, February) The Tribes we Lead [Ted Talks]

            Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead#t-797175