I thought I would provide you a small preview of my new book, Waking Up In Corporate America: Seven Secrets That Opened My Eyes. The preview is taken from Secret #6 and addresses the ignoring of reality (another sign of corporate slavedom):
THE KITE
Have you ever watched a kite flying in the middle of March? It conjures memories of childhood, doesn’t it? As wonderful as this sight can be, it also can be an object lesson in why we can find ourselves ignoring reality. That kite is only as good as the holder of the string. If the person holding the string lets go or forgets to pay attention, there can be consequences. The kite could drift away in the blue sky above, or there might be a tangled mess in a tree.
In life, reality is designed to be the string that keeps a limit on wonderful flight. Without it, we would be wanderers floating without direction or, worse, tangled in a mess. We are sort of alive like the dancing kite, yet we’re not fully there because we’re tethered by the string of reality. This causes sadness and a feeling of helplessness. Therefore, we ignore the string—the reality—because we prefer to believe we have the freedom to fly without limits.
There are a number of executives and non-executives alike who ignore reality daily. They foolishly place too much confidence in their knowledge. Whether they hold tight to their advanced degrees or some other validation of their brainpower, they may be traveling on a disastrous road. The newspapers are filled with high-profile stories about smart people doing dumb things.
Where do we turn when we can’t ignore reality? Do we proudly dig in our heels, as if to say, “I know what I’m doing?” Do we become fatalistic and convince ourselves that it really doesn’t matter?
These responses occur in phases—life phases. In youth, pride can get a grip. There is a certain arrogance that screams invincibility. In many cases, this type of attitude closes off the opportunity to learn. In our youth, we can fall into the trap of thinking that learning is only useful when it serves our own purposes. Humility is the fertile ground needed for learning to occur.