Thinkpost - Power And Control
Aug. 20th, 2005 06:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penpusherIt's all about how much power and control you have over your own life. That is a major determination in how self-assured you are, how fufilled you feel, ultimately, how happy you can potentially be.
Most people are not 100% in control of their own lives. In fact, only very few people are. These are people that sort of aren't the kind of people anyone would want to be: Mary-Kate and Ashley fr. instance. If you have a ton of money and no responsibility, you have the opportunity to make your life whatever you would like. That's where they are.
Most of us have to answer to some sort of superior: a boss, a parent, a spouse even.
But the people who are responsible for taking a portion of your life are also being burdened by the need to organize just how they're using you. That's why it's mostly people in the entertainment biz (or those that are "out" of the biz, really) that get all of the perks and free time while still staying in control.
What percentage of control do you have over your own life? What percentage control do you have over someone else's? I wonder if there's an equation that can tell us something about the whole concept of how this affects our well being and happiness quotient.
Then again, there's the issue of personality. What do we want in our lives? Some people aren't happy unless they're working constantly. Others would feel fulfilled if they got to continually travel. What control and happiness means to these two people are nothing at all alike.
This relates back to knowing yourself. If you don't really understand your own process, you'll be miserable and might not know it, or know how to correct it.
Some people prefer to be in charge of others. They are more fulfilled by bossing others. But there is a tradeoff. They have to deal with the consequences of their decisions for these people. Well, theoretically they do. They might just ignore the results and go on a vacation, not to point fingers or anything.
But we come into situations knowing that it's a bargain. We sacrifice some of the control of our lives to earn a living, or do something we want to do. That's the key. A bargain. We are constantly trading one thing for another: our time for a company's money... our money for items we need or want.
I can almost see the graph. On the X axis is the listing of how much money one earns. On the Y axis is the amount of freedom or free time one has. The idea is to stay on the diagonal line.
But how do we gain more control over our lives? What is it that is preventing us from getting to do more of what we want to do in this life?
Well... we're assuming we're all responsible people. So, that's part of it. Again, it's a method of figuring out personal priorities. What matters most? If you don't know, you'll never be able to figure it out.
There's the point of your situation. Did you build it yourself or walk into it? How much of it can you change right away? What things can you do to help make it more pleasant for you? The ultimate goal isn't productivity... or even success, but quality of experience. Imagine being the most YOU you could be! The ULTIMATE YOU. That's what the goal is. But unless you know what you need to become that, and unless you have some plan to get to that, it won't happen. There are too many people out to try to control your life, and they're probably getting some sort of boost to their own life by running yours.
Ultimately money is just a way of controlling the masses. Homeless people have all sorts of freedom to do any potential thing they might do, but they also have no money, so that's their issue. Money permits a lot of freedom. That's the power. That's the control.
Maybe if I figure out the equation, that meme would sweep through LJ like that "friends you met" quiz that blew its bandwidth last night!
Most people are not 100% in control of their own lives. In fact, only very few people are. These are people that sort of aren't the kind of people anyone would want to be: Mary-Kate and Ashley fr. instance. If you have a ton of money and no responsibility, you have the opportunity to make your life whatever you would like. That's where they are.
Most of us have to answer to some sort of superior: a boss, a parent, a spouse even.
But the people who are responsible for taking a portion of your life are also being burdened by the need to organize just how they're using you. That's why it's mostly people in the entertainment biz (or those that are "out" of the biz, really) that get all of the perks and free time while still staying in control.
What percentage of control do you have over your own life? What percentage control do you have over someone else's? I wonder if there's an equation that can tell us something about the whole concept of how this affects our well being and happiness quotient.
Then again, there's the issue of personality. What do we want in our lives? Some people aren't happy unless they're working constantly. Others would feel fulfilled if they got to continually travel. What control and happiness means to these two people are nothing at all alike.
This relates back to knowing yourself. If you don't really understand your own process, you'll be miserable and might not know it, or know how to correct it.
Some people prefer to be in charge of others. They are more fulfilled by bossing others. But there is a tradeoff. They have to deal with the consequences of their decisions for these people. Well, theoretically they do. They might just ignore the results and go on a vacation, not to point fingers or anything.
But we come into situations knowing that it's a bargain. We sacrifice some of the control of our lives to earn a living, or do something we want to do. That's the key. A bargain. We are constantly trading one thing for another: our time for a company's money... our money for items we need or want.
I can almost see the graph. On the X axis is the listing of how much money one earns. On the Y axis is the amount of freedom or free time one has. The idea is to stay on the diagonal line.
But how do we gain more control over our lives? What is it that is preventing us from getting to do more of what we want to do in this life?
Well... we're assuming we're all responsible people. So, that's part of it. Again, it's a method of figuring out personal priorities. What matters most? If you don't know, you'll never be able to figure it out.
There's the point of your situation. Did you build it yourself or walk into it? How much of it can you change right away? What things can you do to help make it more pleasant for you? The ultimate goal isn't productivity... or even success, but quality of experience. Imagine being the most YOU you could be! The ULTIMATE YOU. That's what the goal is. But unless you know what you need to become that, and unless you have some plan to get to that, it won't happen. There are too many people out to try to control your life, and they're probably getting some sort of boost to their own life by running yours.
Ultimately money is just a way of controlling the masses. Homeless people have all sorts of freedom to do any potential thing they might do, but they also have no money, so that's their issue. Money permits a lot of freedom. That's the power. That's the control.
Maybe if I figure out the equation, that meme would sweep through LJ like that "friends you met" quiz that blew its bandwidth last night!