Step 7 - Martin Seligman's Salary Slave and Learned Helplessness
Realizing in the modern world you are out of the cage and out in the jungle.
As a kid your parents probably took you to the zoo and if you have kids you may have taken them too. You look at the animals and you think they are so lucky to be there, to have food, shelter and water at their disposal but the fact is that it has been proven that animals that are caged, regardless of their situation ,are less happy than those in the wild.
Why is that, you're thinking and the answer is the same as why humans that are completely dependent on others are also unhappy: THEY ARE CONDITIONED TO HELPLESSNESS!
For us humans, the cage starts when we go to school where the teacher tell us exactly what we are going to learn, how and when. We, then, are taught that the successful ones are the ones who are able to follow each and every instruction as well as excelling in exams and home work. Those that decide other subjects are more interesting or excel in areas outside of school are considered to be "losers". So, we grow up with the mentality that being an autodidact is not even a possibility, you must go to school if you want to learn anything!
In this step, Tai stress the importance of learning to not depend on others. Of course, you will always need people, you will never accomplish success alone but even to delegate correctly you must know the task at hand well. Don't be afraid to open the cage and start taking some risks, because if you always play safe you will always wonder what if.
Yes, taking risks can be dangerous but things are way easier today than they were back in the days. There are so many opportunities, advanced technology in every aspect that if you fall you can easily get up and do it all over again. Don't be the monkey in the cage, get out there and stop dreaming your dreams and start living them!
You can watch the entire video on youtube right here.