In Part II, I had come up with a plan and ideas on how to spend my time.  Over the course of the summer, I did many things, but I began to notice patterns……

Part III: Elemental

“The man shapes the environment, and the environment shapes the man.”  My Dad said this to me once.  I’m not sure where he got it, or if it came from a synthesis of his own experiences.  The phrase describes an undeniable phenomenon, and its effects shouldn’t be taken lightly.  The environment influences us, and we in turn exert force on the environment in some sort of tug-of-war over causality.

You see the effects of this concept when studying evolution, start-ups, work environments, and our own living spaces.  You can even observe this somewhat paradoxical concept when studying cells in a petri dish.  You change the substrate that the cell lives on and the cell changes drastically, and consequently, the environment changes.

But what does this really mean?  Primarily, it means we live in a constant state of disequilibrium.  And this creates opportunities, perhaps a dire need, for growth.

But sometimes, for some reason or another, it’s difficult to understand and recognize the opportunities presented to us.  Their signals are too faint to be observed or interpreted.  Scientists have a method for dealing with this—they study the system under stress in order to observe a response.   And although I can’t be sure that I was conscious of it at the time, my situation was analagous.  I had changed the environment completely.  I suddenly had zero requirements placed on me other than my own.  I also had to do something big and drastic, or else face a foreseeable future of the same lack of excitement and frustration I had previously experienced.

Once enough time had passed, I started noticing that I displayed characteristics that some may label or connect to being “entrepreneurial”. (I don’t think I knew what the term meant at the time. ) I enjoyed being able to act on my creativity.  I could get along with little to no resources.  I enjoyed relying on my cunning and confidence to find what I needed.  I enjoyed “selling” people on my ideas, and I very quickly learned to embrace and seek out brutal and honest feedback.  I also had keen perception of people and their strengths. And while I recognized my own strengths and the strengths of others, I also recognized that I had plenty of weaknesses.

I’ve often had the thought, “Nothing is invented, everything is discovered.”  It crosses my mind at various times.   The point is that Truths exist that can be uncovered. The bicycle, the personal computer, polymerase chain reaction, the toaster—all these things existed before anyone made them.  They just hadn’t been discovered yet.

Similarly, in my case, I didn’t undergo any real transformation during the summer or the events that led up to it.  I just put myself in a situation where I could observe myself with amplified clarity and identify the elements that define me.  I’m confident, a communicator,  empathetic, resourceful, creative, good with people, enjoy pressure and urgency, and have very high standards.  These are the elements.  It just so happens that many of these match the profile of what people may call an “entrepreneur”.

In my life, I’m sure I will have many occupations and roles, but whatever I’m doing, I now understand what I am and what I am not.  And while I’ll sharpen some weaknesses and lose my edge on some strengths, the elements of what I am is ingrained in my figurative DNA.

But this isn’t to say we are limited by our designs.  Quite the opposite in fact.  Although these elements of our being are finite, the effects of rearranging them, placing them in new contexts, and interacting with others are infinite.  And we should each look forward to watching the environment shape each other and observing with awe the force we in turn exert on it.

Kevin
8.14.2009