A LETTER FROM CHRIS SUAREZ

THE TRAIN RIDE OF CONTROL

I’ve been thinking about what you see when you take a train from one city to another city in almost any country. The train stations are usually in the middle of a metropolitan area. I have often found myself boarding a train and going from one major city to another major city - perhaps a few hours away. Recently on my train from Tokyo to Kyoto, I was struck by both the extreme wealth and the extreme poverty. It’s no different on trains in Mexico, Europe, Central America, the United States.

As I ride past small, seemingly poor communities, thoughts or questions arise. Why is there such a stark difference between class and wealth? Why don’t they move out of these small villages and find something to do in the city? Why don’t they break the cycle of being stuck here? I begin to think of the hard workers in the city, and can find myself beginning to believe that poverty is a result of laziness.  

And then the train stops at one of the small villages and we get off. We walk through the village. We visit their shops. We walk past their farms. We buy some of their food. We meet the people. And I see that they work as hard or harder than anyone in the city. The difference?

Just circumstance. Just environment. Just decisions. 

There were some that we met that were incredibly happy there. They had everything they needed and wanted. There was nothing to change. There were others that struggled. Every day. They felt it wasn’t fair. The system wasn’t fair. Their life wasn’t fair.

As I got back on the train headed to our destination, I couldn’t help but think it wasn’t at all about fair or not fair. It comes down to our locus of control. That is the perception about the underlying main causes of events in one’s life. Locus of control isn’t even the reality of the underlying main causes. It is the perception. 

Those with the perception that this was the hand that life dealt them would stay with that hand. They’d play that hand, but there was never any reason to take a risk. 

Those with the perception that they controlled the outcome, that they controlled their environment, that they controlled the change they wished to make? Well, they did. 

In every area of our life, whether personal or in our business at this very moment, our perception of what we control, will control our outcomes. It doesn’t matter where we start - at the top or at the bottom. When we feel we don’t control the outcome, decision making is less important. In fact, we often allow others to make the decisions for us. But when we feel we do control the outcome, decision making becomes incredibly important. In fact, exercising control over those decisions becomes the key to unlock the rest of our life.

The stark differences that you pass on the train between one city to the next are all about locus of control. The city is filled with those that took control and created the life they imagined. By the way, there are many in the small villages that did just that as well. But this experience allowed me to take a step back and evaluate the areas of my business and industry that I perceived were either controlled by me or someone else. And this lesson could not have been delivered at a more perfect time.  

Chris Suarez