If you have done any reading in the business/self-help genre, you have no doubt come across the following sentence:
“You are the CEO of your own life.”
On the surface, this sounds empowering. There is, moreover, a large measure of truth to it. If you are an unincarcerated adult living somewhere in the free (or semi-free) world, you are, indeed, the CEO of your own life.
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But there’s a problem here.
Imagine, if you will, a CEO sitting alone at the head of a large table in a boardroom. The boardroom is located on the sixth floor of the company’s headquarters.
The headquarters building is empty, Except for the CEO.
How much could such a CEO get done?
Who would do the hiring? Who would plan production? Who would ensure that the company’s products were of the highest possible quality?
By himself, a CEO doesn’t get much done at all.
Let’s bring this back to the personal metaphor. Yes, by all means, you are the CEO of your own life. But you are also the sales manager, the quality control chief, the head of purchasing. You’re responsible for personnel matters, and for economic forecasting.
You’re much more than the CEO of your own life. Being the CEO of your own life is just the starting point, really.
-ET