Other People’s Scripts

Chris Brogan has helped me from time to time as I make the transition from employee thinking to business owner. One time, he even found my blog and left an encouraging comment back when comments were rare at RCB. I will always remember that gesture and retain a very positive feeling for Chris as a result. I read his book and learned some very real lessons from it and him about building a presence on the web.

I don’t follow him every day but I did sign up for his newsletter. It doesn’t always resonate with me or maybe I just forget to read it all the time but this week he grabbed me with a meaty message that captures my mission. He said to….

Break out of other people’s scripts.

What a clear statement of what I need to do and what a sad commentary on my life that I am still trying to find my own script instead of following a script defined by others. It is not as if this is only my problem. This is how we are raised and educated. It is how civilization renews itself in every generation and keeps us from drifting back to the caves. But when if comes to making a living or defining what kind of life you want to live, it can be very limiting. All my life I have struggled with this problem. I truly wanted to set and then follow my own script but somehow I always swerved into the scripts of others. First my parents, then my teachers and finally my employers. Get a degree. Learn a profession. Get a good job. I never trusted my own instincts or my own passions. I colored withing the lines. I followed the rules. I never raised my eyes to even look at the possibilities outside the advice I was given.

Following their script doesn’t work

The result of this was some success but also some frustration. I was frustrated by people who played by other rules and achieved more as a result. It didn’t seem right but I wasn’t able to learn a lesson from my frustration. I continued to believe that getting outside of the box was not a path to success and that my failure staying in the box was just a temporary setback. I just needed to keep on doing what I was doing.

Other people are wrong.

Well today it is very clear that conventional wisdom was wrong. Degrees are not security or money in the bank. Corporations come and go and employment is not forever. Other peoples scripts are breaking down and the people living other peoples scripts are going down with them. It is time to bring those old dreams out the closet where you stashed them when you started following other people’s scripts. Turn them into a script of your own. Then start following it.