Your Ratchets, Trains, and Motors
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Many of us believe in destiny. We envision our future to be a mysterious star behind the thick dark clouds.
We think that the lines in our palms have mapped our future from birth to death.
Great man and women shape the future, not only their own, but of the universe. Their future is like clay, they can bend it to form a vase, a statue, any great thing that they want.
Is your future like the lines in your palm or a clay on the table?
Crafting a great vase require discipline, consistency, timing, and a lot of hard work. It isn’t done in a day.
Like the materials for a perfect vase, behind our success are subtle forces that shape our lives daily.
To craft our future, we must be conscious of these forces: our ratchets, trains, and motors.
Ratchets
Ratchets are the small changes that unfold daily. They are the tiny details that seem insignificant, at first. Then one day, you look back to see how far the ratchet has gone.
Not that many years ago, you bought your first-ever smartphone. You started using mobiles apps.
You downloaded Spotify. You started emailing using your phone.
Today, you drove to the office and realized that you forget your phone at home. You started worrying about you calls and messages. You hate the inconvenience of going to your desk to check emails. You realized you can’t take a selfie.
Five years ago, smartphones did not exist and you were fine. Now, after using a smartphone daily for five years, this tiny gadget is almost a part of your body.
Ratches like these is all around you. Are you intentionally harnessing any of them for the work that matter to you?
Your Train
You are riding your train. This vehicle carries you to its direction.
Your train is the company you keep, the office you work at, the house you live, the family that raises you, the friends you choose, the lover you desire.
The train is a force that surround you. Inevitably, they form a large part of your identity.
There are two forces that affect our identity: nature and nurture. The train represents nurture.
Our families are our first train. Our parents are our first influences. 82% of Catholics came from Catholic families.
American presidents
Celebrities
In schools, people are identified by cliques.
In the “Mean Girls” movie, the high school population is divided between the fashionable, the sporty ones, the emos, and the geeks.
In “High School Musical,” we see the same thing.
In Disney “Descendants”
In real estate, their is a principle called… “Be aware of your train.”
Envision your path, your image.
the most important thing to remember about the many trains you are on. is not to be hard on yourself for getting ON the wrong train, but for remaining on when you realize it.
Your Motors
Your motors are your triggers. In psychology, this is called the “Id.”
The “Id,” lives in your subconscious, your deepest fear and desires. The affect your different actions without you knowing it. The “id” is irrational. It is the force behind love at first sight and whirlwind romance. Tony Robins say the strongest force alive is your desire to stay true to your self-belief, to be consistent with your own worldview. That’s a motor not to be underestimated.
Your motors may manifest is less grander ways such as when you open a poorly constructed article from an unreliable website because of a clickbait headline.
Marketers study these things to sell products.
Cost is not a function of price.
Be aware of your “Id.”
Urgent Table
SWOT Analysis
Think long-term.
Always have a goal, always argue out loud that you might be wrong. Use these mechanism for good, instead of falling for them unconsciously.
Understanding YOUR motor, your fuel, your energy givers is among the most important insights you get. Have you reflected on what yours are recently?