How Anticonformity Can Empower You

We should all have a vision that guides us through life.

As leaders and entrepreneurs we are taught to cast a vision and keep casting it throughout our business life.

Our personal lives should be no different.

Conforming to the ways of the world can cause us to lose sight of what really
matters.

On Anticonformity

Stand up for what’s right even if you’re standing alone.

I remember this quote on the wall of my first grade class. It was a way to help us remember that we needed to stand up for classmate if he/she was getting picked on. Or something to that effect.

The interesting thing is that schools do a lot of things that aren’t “right.” They ask us to conform to certain standards for testing. Or to sit in a classroom for hours on end. Or ask permission to even get up to go to the restroom.

All are okay for some, but it stifles the creativity for others. Some people don’t learn by writing answers to a test. They need to perform hands-on experiments.

Some don’t learn by someone telling them exactly what to do every 5 minutes, they need to explore by themselves.

But this isn’t about school. It’s about life. And it’s about what we do in our daily lives that cause us to conform to the ways of the world. Maybe they are best way, maybe not.

The point is that we all have a calling inside of us and we shouldn’t go against that. It’s true that we may be standing alone in our thoughts, but my assumption is that we’re never truly alone in what we believe.

How We Conform

I don’t want to get into touchy subjects here because I’m not sure there’s a “right” way for this. But the example I’ll use is how we raise and discipline our children.

Many people do things we don’t agree with in terms of discipline or training. We see things differently. Maybe they’re right, maybe we’re right.

It doesn’t matter what the particular subject is but what irritates me to no end is when people don’t research and come up with their own conclusions. They take another’s word for it or only look at one side of the research.

That is called ignorance and it spreads like wildfire.

Just because your mom did something some way, doesn’t mean it’s the way you have to do it. Just because one “expert” said something works best, doesn’t mean it works for you.

The best quote I can think of comes from the book Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado.

“Children are not a blank slate on which to be written, but rather a book that is meant to be read.”

Whether you agree with that or not, or agree with me on raising a child or not, we need to agree on one thing.

Our life is not a slate in which we write our own path on, but rather one from God that we are to follow. He has the ultimate plan and it’s better than we could ever imagine.

Following His vision for our lives means that will be able to impact others in a way we will likely never understand.

Your Favorite Part: The Takeaway

So how does this help you?

It simply empowers you to remember to listen to your heart. The decisions we make should be based on what God is speaking to us and not what the rest of the world has to say.

Research for yourself, draw conclusions from what others have done and use that to help make a decision that will pleasing to an audience of one.

Paying attention to the vision we have set before us can help us to make decisions in life that will lead us the “right” and true way.

What’s your vision look like these days? Are you conforming to the ways of the world and others or searching your heart for the true answers?