Geographic separation used to separate people into tribes and there are often fights between them. Today, political boundaries such as borders do exist but they don’t stop the relatively free flowing of people, goods and ideas. Even language barriers are solved somewhat with a tiny Google translate app. With interaction of people and sharing of ideas come acceptance and appreciation of differences. With the internet, it is now harder for any ‘authority’, government or special interest group to control the information flow. Lots of advancements in technology, medical and health would not be where it is without people from all race, culture and religion working together.
How you define yourself (i.e. setting artificial boundaries) affects ultimately what you can achieve and your accceptance of new information. Kids often start with “I can’t or this is scary”. However, the goal is to change them into being able to ask for help, willingness to try and dare to fail.
For adults as an example, if you call yourself a computer coder, then you will always be someone who simply supply instructions to the computer according to some pre-defined syntax. However, if you define yourself as a problem solver, even if you are just a junior programmer currently, you will take interest not only in the coding task in front of you, but also what business problems it solves, how it can be even better and maybe even offer other alternatives. As you open up the scope, your eyes open up to opportunities that surround you, how to lead a team, why is it necessary to do estimates and manage budget which will eventually lead you to better paying positions and interesting roles.
If you see your achievements in martial arts as different colored belts or how many forms you have learnt, the outcome will be different than someone who is really keen on self development and exploration – an explorer that knows no boundaries. There is a difference between a dreamer versus an explorer. A dreamer simply dreams and take no action to take down barriers preventing them form achieving their dreams. They are not interested in hardship and uncertainties during the journey. An explorer will actively find new ways to go beyond the current boundaries and more than happy to die trying.
Here is a video that resonates well with me – exploring the limits of human motion.
Exercise
Take a look back in 2015 on what you could have done better and set the plan for 2016!
Cpmment on the video.