We live in a world that is obsessed with putting people in boxes. We have tests, questionnaires and examinations for everything.

Yet what do all those tests actually prove?

Do those boxes we are shoved into really define who we are? Or do they place artificial boundaries around us that become impossible to break out of?

David Ogilvy, an advertising copywriter who was universally regarded as a genius at what he did once was asked to take an intelligence test.

He was a bit surprised to find that he wasn’t a genius after all. In fact, according to the test, he was barely able to think at all!

If he had been asked to take this test at the beginning of his career, he would have had no career. A great talent would have been stifled.

I heard another story yesterday from a lady who coaches gymnasts. She had a young disabled girl in her class who wanted to do rythmic gymnastics with clubs. The girl was told that because of her disability this was impossible because she couldn’t throw and catch them.

But, unlike most of us, this little girl didn’t listen to the people who told her it was impossible. She did it anyway. She practiced and practiced and eventually could throw both clubs high in the air with one hand and then catch one in each hand as they came down.

They said it was impossible, but she did it anyway – despite being blind.

There must be many of us who have been told categorically that we can’t do something because we fell short on someone else’s scale, yet know in our hearts that we CAN and MUST do it anyway.

When you KNOW who you are – when your heart is telling you that your destiny lies in a certain direction – don’t let anyone else shove you in a box that doesn’t fit.

Like a jack-in-the-box, your spring will simply wind tighter and tighter until it either snaps or you burst through the lid.

I’m all for breaking out of the lids of artificially created boxes – how about you?

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