Self Determined-Determination

During a conversation with my friend Spencer Hoole this week I began to get and expended glimpse into the concept of self-determination.  Perhaps you've been comfortable with the common definition of this term, to determine one's own fate.  Of course, this definition is still true, but Spencer taught me a more complete and compelling definition.

He was telling me of his school years and how he had been coasting along until one particular event occurred that weighed heavily on his mind.  "I was walking home

and asked myself a question.  What am I going to do so I can live the kind of life my parents had given me? "

He went on to tell me that he concluded that he was going to need to have the determination to work hard in school and to do the things that he felt he needed to do to get what he wanted in life.

That's when I began to realize the connection between self-determination and internal-resolve determination.  One cannot live a self-determined life without working with determination, the resolve to accomplish a desired outcome.

As Spencer described his process he used example after example of successful people, he has studied, who had faced some kind of personal or social disadvantage.  In every case, these individuals knew they had some sort of weakness and they used their resolve to work harder than others in order to overcome it.

"All of these people had something driving them inside.  They had to prove that they had overcome themselves."  Spencer told me.

Overcoming ones self is a life-long pursuit.  It takes determination to know what your own weaknesses are and to wake up each day saying, "I'm going to go to work and show myself that nothing is going to stop me now or ever!  I'm going to live life on my own terms and determine my own future."  But, that's what Spencer has done.

I looked across the table and saw Spencer's eyes as he spoke.  I saw polish, knowledge, success and I also saw something I hadn't recognized before, self determined-determination.