DISRUPT YOURSELF

By Simphiwe Makapela

Everything - from the harsh reality of a pet, to a queue marshal at Bree taxi rank, exists within the context of a wider environment. The newborn baby is encapsulated within a family - at least a mother, though. A soccer star exists within the context of a team. A team within a league. A league, within all the teams involved. A start-up business exists within a context of an industry. The industry; within other existing industries. All of them, they exist within the economy. The student - within an institution. The institution prepares one for the world of work. Inversely, the work environment comprises of trained students. The church, too, exists within the context of a community. The community, in and of itself, is made up of a reasonable number of churchgoers.
Everything just keeps going in circles like the proverbial streams the wise biblical King Solomon speaks about in his writings found in Ecclesiastes 1:7, "All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return."
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether we're talking about newborn baby to mother, or mother to baby. Soccer star to team or vice-versa. Economy to industry - to boss - to student, or all of the above, vice versa. The rule of thumb still stands, everything, including yourself, are a drop into something else.

In this installation, however, the spotlight will be turned on you. Forget the wider context. Think, "You." You ought to be made known to yourself.

In entrepreneurial or corporate speak, the term "Disruptive" has now become the most hackneyed phrase since the turn of the century. Whenever you hear the words 'disruptive innovation,' what's being spoken about is an idea that is unconventional and totally new but has the power to alter the direction of how things have always been percieved. When talk of 'disruptive change' emerges, what these well-informed people are trying to refer to in Daily Sun Newspaper language - is "change that was never expected and also has the power to force shift to happen."
Disrupting yourself, as well, is a philosophy that emphasizes the idea of making shift happen around your own life. Its an idea that promotes a bold look at the traditions of all aspects of our lives. As with everything else, this can only be possible if one is in reasonable, if not full view of oneself.

The reason, perhaps, why most people live in the shadows of what they are supposed to be, want to be, or can be, is simply because of denial or rejection of self-control. Every aspect of life has a way of being a mystery. Thousands of people are propelled into greatness by challenges. Challenges change them. A visit to the doctor scares them into the hands of transformation. Yeah? While challenges are effective change messengers, what happens when we're so deeply rooted in our traditions that we fail to sense the message of change? let alone embrace it! What happens when we're affiliated to a circle of friends that meet every friday evening at Newscafe to talk about the same old "things" (just with different women). What happens when routine successfully dissolves itself within your reality that you don't even smell growth-directed change situations? What happens?
Well, like the terminator who never broke his promise ... I'll be back - with the 2nd installation of this article.