Self-Leadership: How to Become a More Successful, Efficient, and Effective Leader from the Inside Out

CHAPTER 3

Driver or Passenger?

Rule your mind or it will rule you.

—HORACE

John’s parents migrated to Australia from central Europe when he was just two years old. They had no friends in their new land, and so when they were warmly welcomed by a religious community they chose to ignore its cultlike culture. John grew up in a strict regime. He was told what was right and wrong and that the ultimate punishment was to be banished from the community. John always felt constricted by the rules and was often in trouble for small misdemeanors. He was told he was stupid, but that assessment just didn’t seem right to him. In his midteens, John began to exert his independence by challenging the culture’s taboos. At 17 he started to smoke, which was absolutely ...