Culture – The 5th Plank

Culture: Where Identity Aligns and Resonates to Create Impact

The culture of the communities you create or are a part of is beneficial to the extent they align or resonate with your identity and greater purpose. Who you are, what you believe in and value, your purpose, and your vision are elements of identity.

Culture is your fifth plank of the bridge across the chasm to the life of your dreams. Associating with others who have similar energy and focus can amplify your enthusiasm and energy, making your journey both more swift and fulfilling.

…culture is a mosaic of experiences that either become you or you become.

Whether it is a culture you create or one you join, in order to be of significant value the culture must resonate with who you are and must become. What you seek is an amplifying and supportive synergy consistent with your identity, purpose, and vision.

The right culture affirms your purpose and vision and helps others to create and live theirs.

The Old Saw of Your Become the Average of the Five People You Hang Around With

There is a popular philosophy that you will become the average of the five people with whom you associate the most. This is perhaps a generalization, and “five” isn’t necessarily the magic number. Perhaps a better way to say it is you become the average of the most emotionally impactful experiences to which you are exposed. You could even extrapolate it to you become the average of the most prevalent habitual behaviors and experiences to which you are exposed.

The point is this: culture is a mosaic of experiences that either become you or you become. In other words, they either make you more of who you are or they make you into what they want you to be. For this reason, you must be mindfully aware of the culture you create and/or of the entities with which you associate. And even more important, you must choose your associations with intent and caution. Are those associations a place where you can contribute and which contribute to you? Are they those places where a culture of giving and receiving is promoted or are they mostly received from you and others?

Conformity leads to mediocrity. Your purpose, vision, and identity are not mediocre: they are powerfully unique and exceptional. Understand and believe this, for it is this belief by which the world has and will be moved forward.

How Do You Identify?

When you associate with any entity such as a community, company, church, political party, group, or an individual, how do you identify? Do you identify as or with? Have you ever thought about the difference?

When you identify “as” something, your beliefs and values are aligned with that entity. Identifying “as” can lead to becoming them, the entity. It can be that your purpose and vision are replaced or strongly influenced by the purpose and vision of the entity or entities with which you associate. This is can work to you advantage or detriment: it’s up to you to figure that out. When you become entrained in the culture of an entity you identify as, you may be giving up who you are as the price you pay to belong. Is that what you want?

When you identify “with” something, your beliefs and values have common elements with those of the entity. You may support that entity, but you are your own person and you are following your own beliefs and values toward your greater purpose and vision. What you belong to is your Code of Life and Living, not the code of some other entity. Since you identify with the entity, there are likely synergistic elements of belief and values. That’s the reason you identify “with.” But, you are not them and they are not you. You maintain your identity, purpose, and vision; and is so doing, you preserve the opportunity to contribute to and receive from the entities with which you identify. You do not become them.

There is a purpose for this section being between the Old Saw and the Mastermind sections. That purpose is to prompt you to understand and question the culture of the associations you create or are exposed to. It is to advocate your freedom and independence of thought and action consistent with your Code of Life and Living, not the code of the institutions of society. Conformity leads to mediocrity. Your purpose, vision, and identity are not mediocre: they are powerfully unique and exceptional. Understand and believe this, for it is this belief by which the world has and will be moved forward.

A Mastermind Alliance is About Culture

Napoleon Hill in his famous book “Think and Grow Rich” strongly advocates the creation of a mastermind as part of your journey to success. At the very core of a mastermind is culture. The purpose of a mastermind is to join together the collective minds of a group to access more options, choices, and ideas than would flow from a single mind. A mastermind is also about achieving a higher state of clarity.

A mastermind is an entity you create or join with the intent of amplifying and accelerating your journey, and in so doing giving back to the mastermind in like or greater value. In order to accomplish this, there must be cultural alignment and resonance.

A Few Final Worlds on Culture – The 5th Plank

We live in a world where the institutions of society, of which there are many, seek and indeed demand your conformity. This has proven both ineffective and dangerous.

You, as an individual, are unique and exceptional in many ways. Your purpose and vision are powerful and can change the world. How you define “your world” is where you begin. Bring your purpose and vision to that world through the power of your unique identity, and let that world bring it to the rest of the world. This is how your legacy lives on beyond your years. This is how ideas expand and grow. This is how you leave the world a better place than when you found it!

Be part of or create a culture of change, growth, contribution, and freedom. Help others to create their own culture and power. Every great advancement of society began in the mind of a single person somewhere at some time. Now, that person is you. Whether your world is comprised of a single person you support or a worldwide quest, it is your world to change.

Believe it is possible and follow your Code of Life and Living.