The 18-Wheeler of Life
The secret to
successfully living an authentic life is congruence. Congruence implies that we
should have a straight line of agreement between vision, goals and behaviour.
See the “Authenticity: The Pudding of Congruence” Blog Post. As basic as the
concept of a straight line may be, it does require some conscious focus and
attention. The concept is equal to the wheel alignment on an eighteen wheel
truck. To move a heavy vehicle safely and
efficiently we need all the wheels to be balanced, correctly inflated and all
pointed in the same direction.
Our lives can easily be represented by the eighteen wheeler
truck rig:
The cab with the driver would represent our focus and vision
in life. Sitting at the front of the vehicle our whole life will follow the
course we select from in the cab.
The Trailer would represent how we contain life, with all
our own personality, attitude and emotions. What happens in life only has the
meaning that we give it, and that is determined by our overall attitude to
life.
The Wheels represent all the different roles that we play in
life. Each of us is multi-dimensional in the tasks and duties we have to
perform and are represented by diverse roles that we take on. Let’s look at
Jack for example: He is a dad, he is a friend, he is a son and a brother, and
he is a fisherman, runner and businessman.
It is called life when we live out each of the roles we
have, achieving goals, learning skills, socialising and connecting with others. As each role rolls over the tar of life and
circumstances we travel closer to our destination. The signposts along the
route indicate the goals and achievements that draw us closer to our purpose.
It is important that the roles in our lives are congruent,
inline, to the direction we wish to travel. In twenty five years of life coaching and presenting
courses, I regularly find people that have roles and goals that are incongruent
with each other. I have met people with conflicting roles, where one role
breaks down what another role achieves. I can only compare this to a truck where
the front wheels are driven forwards, but the back wheels role in the opposite
direction. This will result in stagnation and a lot of damage to the vehicle.
Take some time to discover the roles you lay in your life.
Take some time to identify how they affect your life and your goals. Most
importantly, take time to discover if these roles are congruent with where you
want to go in life. Getting these various roles to align with your vision is a
basic but essential step to achieving the success you want in your life. Owning
an eighteen wheeler truck rig is a privilege for living. Regular and thorough maintenance
of this rig is important to a safe and successful journey. Happy Travels,
Trucker!
Other Articles by John Usher:
- Authenticity: The Pudding of Congruence
- Top-Down Effect
- Authenticity - The Dark Horse
- Authenticity to Self
- Authentic Expression
- Authentic
No comments:
Post a Comment