Find Your Jam.

Did you know that you are being held prisoner to your dreams?

Michel Foucault, French philosopher of the mid 19th century, in his series of works Discipline and Punish put forth the theory that when a mass of people are held under surveillance it forces them to act as normal or at least what the powers that be deemed as normal.

Hence normalization is relative to the society you live in and the distributed power that is held. 

If examination of your activity and performance is measured and you know it; you're going to survey your own actions, probably more rigorously than the power you are being watched by.

Michel Foucault observed this in how punishment had been delivered from the 17th century until the modern day and how the prison system functioned to rehabilitate criminals to fit into societal norms. 

The crazy thing is...as you are about to discover:

You are in a prison of your own doing but the bricks were given to you by the way in which we are raised in society.

You meticulously punish yourself and your own actions because they don't stack up to what may be considered normal in your field, sport, work, or art.

This is a learned behaviour and thinking which did not exist in mankind pre 16th century.

Around about the time the sciences, biology, psychology started to be seriously examined. 

To put this in perspective think of a place you've worked before and how you behave.

You are told to dress a certain way, use a certain language including what not to say OH and don't forget when to turn up and how much you'll be paid. 

Performance reviews, KPI's, meetings with managers are methods that are used to have you behave in line and "normal" relative to the workplace.

This isn't an isolated incident.

You are also being conditioned with this behaviour from gradings in school, trophies in sport, not speaking your mind when you have a different opinion to that of the group.

If you are to truly find your jam and live it, you know...the thing that you most want to do and in our western society - get paid for doing what you love.

Then you have got to break away from the mass thinking, mass conditioning and become aware.

Now, I don't think one can ever be totally free but I do think we can structure a life where we get the ultimate of freedom's: Choice.

The ability to choose when to work, who to work with, how much you'll get paid, what you want to wear, walk, talk, and be free to be you.

You.

A magnificent creation and wondrous example of the power of the universe. 

You are designed for more than the shackles of a job you despise and the chains of broken promises to yourself. 

It's time to find your jam and break free of your own mental prison and recognize you are the architect of your life's masterpiece. 

Vaughan.