Self-determination is the new security

Self-determination is a Value, which is no longer considered particularly sexy or desirable in this day and age. The masses have become too accustomed to a world in which other people, organizations and authorities plan, manage and control their entire lives. But placing one's own future in the hands of others is not an option in the VUKA World is completely the wrong approach. Instead, self-determination is becoming the new security. And let's take a closer look at exactly why this is the case.

Self-determined living: Be like water, my friend

In my experience, people can be divided into two general categories. They are either team sea or team mountains. What about you, have you ever asked yourself whether your heart feels most at home on the summit of a majestic mountain or on the endless beach of a rough ocean? I myself don't have to hesitate for a second to answer that question. I am Team Sea.

Maybe it's because, as a child, I used to sit on the stones in my home town of Travemünde (a district of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck) like Tony Buddenbrook (every famous scene from the novel „The Buddenbrooks“ by Thomas Mann (who, like me, was also born in Lübeck), and impressed by the vastness of the horizon, I dreamed of faraway countries and traveling by boat. Even though I love the breathtaking scenery of the mountains, nowhere do I feel as free as by the sea.

I could gaze at the crashing waves for hours while the unique salty smell fills my nose and the screeching of seagulls fills my ears. And every time I find myself by an ocean anywhere in the world, I can't help but think of what is probably the most famous quote in the world. of the martial artist and actor Bruce Lee (You can watch the interview with Bruce Lee here as video view):

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

My German translation is as follows: “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. If you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. If you put water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. If you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or destroy. Be like water, my friend.”

Self-determination as a response to fear and uncertainty

Of course, this metaphor was primarily intended for use in martial arts. If you don't confront your opponent with a rigid strategy, but can adapt flexibly, then the chances of success are much higher. And perfection is achieved when you are like water. Because you simply cannot grasp this element. At the same time, however, it is also able to make its way through impenetrable terrain and defeat seemingly overpowering opponents.

Over the last few months, I've been thinking about Bruce Lee and his metaphor of water almost every day. The world has changed massively, and not just since the global pandemic. Many people's everyday lives are characterized by a gnawing fear of the future, priorities have shifted and the vast majority of the population shares the increasingly intense feeling of being hopelessly at the mercy of the whims of fate.

And as is the case with drastic Changes As is the case nowadays, we try to overcome this uncertainty by clinging to familiar things, by organizing our everyday lives around routines and by taking as few risks as possible. As absurd as it may sound, the more uncertain the external circumstances are, the more important a feeling of inner security becomes for us.

Security is the result of self-determination

But where can this security still be found today? A job as a civil servant in the administration? Of course, you get your salary paid into your account on time every month for the rest of your life. But at what price, when your days are characterized by a lack of creativity, monotony and the often pointless processing of forms? Even the supposedly secure career in a large company only exists in theory. The transformation from an industrial to a knowledge-based society will result in millions of jobs being lost in the future, more and more jobs are being cut on a massive scale in almost all sectors and the coronavirus crisis has accelerated the wave of insolvencies.

And even if you manage to make a career as an employee in a future-oriented industry, the organizational constraints, the stress caused by increasing pressure to perform and the almost non-existent work-life balance are the main reasons why more and more people are asking themselves the question:

„Should that be it now? Am I supposed to drive to the gray open-plan office every day for the next thirty years to do a job that doesn't fulfill me, often frustrates me and hasn't been fun for a long time?“

Believe me, dear readers, I know these thoughts only too well, because they used to run through my head in a kind of continuous loop. And I would probably have drowned in the negative spiral of hopelessness and frustration if I hadn't listened to the biography of one of my childhood idols as an audio book in the car. I'm talking about John Michael Osbourne, the singer of the legendary hard rock band Black Sabbath, who you may only know by his nickname Ozzy.

What you can learn from Ozzy Osbourne about self-determination

He grew up in poor circumstances in Birmingham in the 1950s and decided as a teenager to train as a skilled worker. To become a car horn tuner. Doesn't sound particularly sexy, does it? Ozzy explained his decision as follows: „Back then they thought you take what little education you can get hold of. Then you learn a trade and get a shitty job that you're really proud of, even though it's a shitty job. And then you do this shitty job for the rest of your life. This shitty job simply means everything to you.“

And so it was that the future international star began to learn the art of car horn tuning. If you're thinking: „Art? That sounds like a very dull activity“, then you are absolutely right. Because the young Ozzy's daily routine looked like this.

He sat at the assembly line and grabbed a horn. Tuned it with the screwdriver. Tested the sound. The next horn followed. The same action with the screwdriver. Tune it again and test the sound. Then the next horn. And the next one. Again and again. Grip. Tuning. Testing. All day long. The work was so frustrating, loud and monotonous that he feared he would go mad.

So he asked the colleague next to him, an older gentleman with a bald head and huge dark circles under his eyes: „Tell me Jimmy, how long have you actually been here?“ To which he replied: „Twenty-nine years and seven months. And you know what the best part is? In five months, I'll have been here exactly thirty years. Then I'll retire and get my gold watch from the company.“

At that moment, the future multimillionaire had the following thought in his head: „I'd rather the Russians drop a bomb on the factory before I have to spend thirty years in this room.“ And he said: „Listen, Jimmy, if you really wanted a gold watch, you should have stolen one from the jeweler in the pedestrian zone. Even if they'd caught you, you'd only have done a tenth of the time you've spent in this hole.

And that would undoubtedly have been the better choice.“ He then left his job without a word and made the decision to swap frustration for a self-determined life. To do what really fulfilled him and what he had been dreaming of for years. And that dream was music.

Together with his childhood friends Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, he founded the band Black Sabbath and made his mark on music history with hits such as Iron Man, Paranoid and War Pigs. If you ask the superstar today what has driven him the most during his long career, Ozzy Osbourne likes to say that the memory of the gold watch has saved him more than once.

Whenever he doubted whether he was still on the right path, whenever there were crises and setbacks, the huge image of a gold watch appeared in his mind's eye and suddenly reminded him of the conditions in the car horn factory and how his life might have turned out if he had not made the choice to take the path of self-determination.

Live independently and enjoy freedom

This is just one example of countless others where the Decision against traditionally prescribed paths and for a self-reliant life began with the following realization:

„There must be more to it than paying bills, working for an anonymous organization and counting down the days until retirement.“

Ever heard of it? Perhaps often thought of it yourself? I certainly hope so, because life really does have so much more to offer than a dull 9 to 5 job, having to endure a monotonous office routine and carrying out pointless instructions. If you take it by the horns and don't rely on others to make the right decisions for you. It may seem counter-indicative at first glance, but traditional employment models will be associated with maximum uncertainty in the future.

Because you are dependent on other people for every external change. And as harsh as it may sound, they unfortunately don't care about you at all.

It doesn't matter whether they are politicians, managers of large corporations, civil servants in various administrations, company superiors or state bureaucrats, they are all solely concerned with maintaining their own vested interests, their own power and their own status. And to achieve this, they only pursue their own goals. And these are further removed from their own than HSV is from the next German championship.

The old rules no longer apply

If you need to reach these external Goals are labeled as no longer good enough, you will be dropped like a hot potato. It doesn't matter how good, hard-working or loyal you were in the past. You can't imagine how many people I know who have worked for a company with passion and dedication for decades and have been thrown out the door overnight. Without a single thank you. Without appreciation. Without any recognition of their previous achievements. A quick handshake, maybe a bouquet of flowers to keep up appearances and then that's it. In many organizations, people are unfortunately just a cost center that is cut immediately and with mathematical precision at the slightest pressure.

And if you think that this could never happen to you, just take a look at the industries that are in the process of shrinking back to health: banks, car manufacturers and their suppliers, retailers and traditional media companies are just a few of many prominent examples. And since the exclusive focus on cost savings has never led to corresponding results, the end of the trend is still a long way off.

Many a well-known group was only able to survive thanks to massive support from the taxpayer, while well-known brands such as Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, Vapiano, Esprit and the Adler fashion chain had to file for insolvency. Too big to fail is long gone. Today more than ever, the leaner and more adaptable a company is, the greater its chances of success in the future.

Flexibility as the key to dealing with an uncertain future

The more uncertain times become, the more important self-determination becomes. The more important it becomes to shape your own life, to be able to react to changing conditions with maximum flexibility and to take responsibility. For your own goals. For your own dreams. For your own life. Of course, there are also a lot of imponderables here, things that you cannot influence and hurdles that need to be overcome.

But at the same time, you have full control over your vision, your goals, your decisions and what you do or don't want to do every single day. And isn't that the true definition of Freedom? It doesn't mean that you can (finally) do what you want. Rather, it's the liberating feeling of no longer having to do what you don't want to do.

Self-determination is the new security: a conclusion

And with this thought, the circle of this article closes, because in order to break through the old thought patterns of „be diligent at school, get a good job and then enjoy life after retirement“, „the company and the state will take care of you“ and „there are no alternatives to a career as an employee“ and replace them with a future-oriented, independent way of life, we have to be like water.

In the best Bruce Lee sense, we should not hope that the stone lying in our way will disappear by itself, be removed by managers from the carpeted floor or be moved by an authority, but become active ourselves. To pave a path around the stone, through it or over it. Or perhaps to look for a completely new river.

In our case, we can of course replace the metaphor of water with the word self-determination. Those who think for themselves become the solution. Those who make self-determined decisions create opportunities. Those who live self-determined lives create a future according to their own ideas.

And it is precisely for this reason that self-determination will become the new security in the coming years. A newfound freedom that motivates us from deep within. To an independence that gives us a lifestyle based on a very special mix of gratitude, purpose and fulfillment. And there is a way of organizing life and work that combines all of this in a unique form: self-employment as a working model that minimizes dependence on external factors (which are difficult or impossible to influence) and focuses on self-determination.

Are you already self-employed? Or are you planning to start one? Then please post the link to your homepage in the comments.