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Do you live by “Social Expectations”?

Posted by You Teck - 20/06/08 at 02:06:16 pm

I’ve always believed that our childhood period is the time where we are most innocent and free. It’s the period where we have great dreams and goals we want to fulfill. It’s the time where we don’t give a hoot to what other people think.

Isn’t funny that all this “freedom of thoughts” and dreams come to pass as we grow older? From the time where you’ll say I can be a “bla bla bla” to “it’s never going to happen”. Suddenly, it doesn’t really matter what you really want because you realize that it’s perfectly comfortable to agree with social expectations.

So, when did all this social expectation ideology come creeping into our lives? For me, I believed it all started when we began our primary education. It’s the time where adults will start comparing us with the other kids in the class. Comparison will range from behavior, results and even ambitions. Suddenly it’s not ok to be yourself anymore because you have to start pleasing the people who matters to you.

It’s really sad when this shift of mindset occurs because of the lost of real talent. Imagine a kid’s dream is to become the bravest fireman within his city but because of social expectation that he should follow his dad footstep on becoming the next CEO of their company, he has to forsake his true intentions.

Once the coating of social expectation becomes very thick a false sense of identity will devour us and a lot of actions or conversations created by us will have a fake aura around it. The most condemning thing about social expectations is that it makes us response to other people’s reaction rather than portray our own views at all times.

Take the simple example of a group discussion, have you ever encountered a situation where you had a different opinion from the rest of your group members but for some reason you decided it was better to follow the crowd instead? Well, that’s social expectation working at its best.

Another solid example of social expectation can be displayed through our career or education choices. Most of the time our heart will tell us to go for the choice we really want but because of comments such as “Oh come on, are you sure?” or “Haha, I can’t imagine seeing you do that”, we tend to back out on our earlier decision.

Other factor where social conditioning comes into action is in our romance life. One clear example of it is the real decision on when we should settle down and start a family. There seems to be this invisible rule where you got to somehow settle down by the age of 28-30 or people around you will start ringing the alarm bells. Thus, it doesn’t become your decision of wanting to get married at that age but it’s the social expectation decision.

For me, I don’t care about the expectation of others and whatever decision I choose to make, I make it because I want it to be that way. What I want to conclude here is that if you’ve always be living your life according to other people’s expectation, maybe it’s about time to ask yourself what you really want because I firmly believe that’s where your real freedom lies.

I believe this 2 Es can “Change The World”

Posted by You Teck - 19/06/08 at 05:06:54 pm

If you’ve already made a guess on what the 2 Es are, I can assure you that “Excuses” is not one of them. I would love to share with you the perils of excuses but that would be a story for another day. So, what then are the 2 “Es” that can change the world?

Well, they are “Education” and “Entrepreneurship”. Education is highly important because it gives us the knowledge to advance, to better express ourselves and ideas, and to understand the workings of our daily life. One critical aspect of education is that it gives the learner the ability to read and write.

An individual must command a certain level of literacy if he wants to improve his standard of life. Through reading, he is introduced to a very different sort of world where his imagination is free to roam. It is also through reading that he will be able to learn many new skills which he might not have encounter during the course of his life.

Imagine the excitement and curiosity a child can generate when he gain access to an intriguing book that explains the wonder of the world. He will feel that the world has so much to offer and learn despite of whatever current situation he is in.

Getting the right early education also ensures that an individual learns the right moral values on how he should treat fellow humans or any life form of that matter. When you look at some of the unrest that are happening across the globe, they are often caused by individuals who have received the wrong kind of mindset and teaching when they were young.

If there is ever one thing that is of most importance to eliminating poverty across the world, it’s definitely education.

I’m a big believer in entrepreneurship because through entrepreneurs we are able to enjoy the many new innovations and services that make our lives better that it was yesterday. More importantly, these business built by the entrepreneurs serves as the driving force of their country’s economy.

I’m sure it’s pretty much self-explanatory when we look at the effects of the 2 Es in developed country. The shift from agriculture to industrial and from industrial to information has been lead by the likes of Henry Ford, Vinod Khosla, Sir Richard Branson, and more recently Larry and Sergey.

While foreign investments are highly important, the presence of many small and big local businesses provides a much needed balance to raise the competitive levels which will in turn provide the people with more opportunities.

Entrepreneurship shouldn’t be viewed solely in the business aspects because I believe that entrepreneurship is the power of action in its rawest form. Through a series of different action acted out by the individual, he or she will gain an additional experience in leadership, resourcefulness and many other life skills. All this experiences will definitely come in useful when they serve their local community or managing their own lives.

I’m firmly believed that the key to a better future lies in the 2 Es and this is what I’m truly passionate about.

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