Everyone tends to see the world through a lens that makes our personal view the right one.
I see a lot of rhetoric from politicians who take each others’ words and try to turn them around and against each other. It’s all spin. At the end of the day, unless you go and fact check everything they’re saying, there is no way to know which side is telling the truth.
It reminds me that everyone sees the world through a lens that makes our personal view the right one. In politics, you have a bunch of people who see the world through a certain lens that’s been given to them through society and shaped through their upbringing. They tend to carry the same mental constructs as their constituents without critically thinking for themselves and that’s because there is a lot of influence and pressure to fit in. It’s political suicide to disagree with the opinions of the group.
Groupthink applies to absolutely everything in life.
I grew up in a relatively low class environment and was conditioned to think a certain way about money and life. We all felt more or less the same way about the world.
Understand that you are being programmed to think a certain way by your environment. That’s how you learn as a child, it’s also how you survive. If we don’t fit in with our environment, it’s part of our survival instinct to try to conform.
If you have an entrepreneurial spark and have always felt a little bit different, like you never quite fit in with other people, then you’ve probably also realized you didn’t fully agree with the opinions of the crowd. This could be among your family or your circle of friends. At some moment, we’ve all experienced this.
Breaking out of a groupthink (whether it’s religion, politics, or any way of standing out) isn’t easy.
What entrepreneurs tend to do is to remove themselves from the 97% of society and say, “Just because 97% of the people out there are going a certain way, it doesn’t make that way correct.”
Most people are brought up with certain beliefs around money and wealth that hold them back from achieving their highest potential. Society and their environment reinforces those beliefs.
Do not use the same mentality that kept you inside the box, to break free of it. Be creative. Let your imagination dissolve the obstacles that bind you. – S. Botsford
What makes entrepreneurs different is not their will-power, intellect, or discipline. Entrepreneurs simply see the world through a different lens. It is a lens through which they see that anything is achievable and all things lie within their power.
Anyone can change the lens they’re looking through.
Is it possible that the lens you’ve been seeing the world through may not be serving you? Have you considered that maybe it’s as simple as the lens being out of focus? Maybe there’s a little dust on the glass, or maybe the lens has shifted out of alignment…
I’m not saying that anyone can see the world truly objectively, but it’s important to see the world from multiple perspectives. Try to remove yourself from your own viewpoint. Become more open to the many different ways of seeing things.
If you find yourself feeling like you want more, that’s a good thing. That’s the spark you need to step away from the crowd.
They might laugh at you, but you are being true to yourself, to your team and to what feels right for you.
Visualize a hundred people walking down the street after a professional sporting event… Imagine coming out of a stadium wearing the same colors as most everyone else there. You’re wearing the home team’s jersey and rooting for them.
It’s a lot easier to do that than wear the road team’s jersey and be heckled by the crowd.
Now, imagine yourself as the one person wearing the rival team’s colors. You stand out. Everyone can see you. The might yell at you. They might laugh. However, you are being true to yourself, to your team and to what feels right for you.
The same with life, if you’re different, you’re going to be heckled. It’s not as though entrepreneurs are going to get lots of support to challenge the norm. Despite that, entrepreneurs do it anyway, because they know facing that fear of failure is worth living a life of unlimited possibility. To be motivated by a desire to do something great, something you can be proud of, is more powerful then any heckling.
Divorce yourself from groupthink understanding that it might not be the right way to think for YOU. It is naive to think that just because everyone else thinks it’s right, it’s also right for you.
Find people who think the same way as you do; they are out there.
Figure out who you are. Figure what you want and never settle for less!
All my best,
Jay Kubassek
My WAKE UP podcast is on Blog Talk Radio every Tuesday at 10:30 am ET (GMT – 5). Join the thousands of entrepreneurs around the world who are waking up to their possibilities every week! Catch this week’s call right here.
Hey Jay,
Your topic today is very relevant to me. It’s amazing how I’ve tried hard to conform and hide my true self because I was not sure how I would be percieved. I have a lady friend who insipre me so much because she made the decision that she was not going to wotk for anyone else when she got retrenched last year and went off her own enterprenuarial route. Some people at work said that she was crazy, but I really understood her need to break free because I feel the same. I’m glad to have joined PRO, a community of people who stand out in their own right.
Thanks Jay.
Sheep are lovely peaceful animals and share an evolutionary history with dolphins, some of the most intelligent creatures on earth. It’s not unintelligent to be part of a group. safety in numbers as well as the mental health benefits gained from a social environment where one’s peers are equals greatly enhance prospects of longevity and happiness. The main danger of being in a group is poor leadership. If the alpha male/female loses touch with the interests of the group over and beyond their own selfish interest, the group suffers as a result. And most often, an unpleasant leadership battle ensues, where many can lose the respect and love of the group, and in some cases their membership of the group.
Whilst it is true that group-think has it’s limitations, those who would raise them selves above this and attempt to lead a group should be aware of the risk they run being ostracized by their own group should their motives and abilities prove to be only selfish.
Peter,
This is SO true and history books are the only jury that have accurately judged our leaders… you make some very good points!
So if the lens we choose to see the world through is the lens that creates our reality, and the beginning of changing out realities is by changing our perspectives, then what holds us back? I think it comes back down to fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of stepping away from what is comfortable, and fear of change is what we all need to break through to begin to see new results.
Groupthink (as an environment) continues to reinforce certain lenses, perspectives, and beliefs. So I think that the fear of breaking away will be stronger the longer you immerse yourself within a certain group. However, I think that’s the key to breaking away. If your environment is conditioning you, and programming you in a certain way that you do not want to adopt, then you must find a group, or environment that supports what you WANT.
That’s why I read your post Jay.
Thanks for the programming. 😉