bcg blog

Life is a Creation

At fifteen years old, Arnold Schwarzenegger made a decision on who he would become, and then he  built that man. He described it as ‘magical’ because it was the first time in his life that he realized who he wanted to be. Schwarzenegger recalled, “I knew I was going to be a bodybuilder. It wasn’t simply that either. I would be the best bodybuilder in the world, the greatest, the best-built man.”
As he transitioned to Hollywood, Schwarzenegger encountered resistance at every turn - his thick Austrian accent was too hard to understand, his clunky bodybuilder physique was wrong for acting, and his name was too long and unpronounceable. Similar to his fifteen year old decision to be a bodybuilder, Schwarzenegger had already made the decision. He was going to be an actor. His response to the naysaying agents and casting people seemed like a joke at the time, but turned out to be prophetic: “Eventually, there will be only one Arnold, and they won’t need to be able to spell Schwarzenegger.”
He didn't soul search to discover if acting was his authentic calling. He simply decided to create a new version of himself. We couldn't imagine a bodybuilder chatting it up with Johnny Carson until we saw him on The Tonight Show. We couldn't imagine the guy who was so convincing as a killer robot in The Terminator becoming governor of California. Nonetheless, Schwarzenegger made it all real by deliberately creating who he needed to be in each chapter of his life. Bodybuilder. Actor. Governor. Each version was intentionally constructed, not passively uncovered.
Why Should We Care?
Here’s the danger with self-discovery: it’s passive. The narrative tells us that we need to ‘discover ourselves’ by peeling back layers until we find our true, authentic core. We search for our purpose, try to reveal our core values, and attempt to uncover our passions as if our identity exists somewhere out there or deep inside us. If we’re not careful, years can pass while we’re waiting for clarity, searching for signs, and hoping for a revelation about who we’re supposed to be.
However, life holds a different truth. It’s not a treasure hunt for a pre-existing self, it’s a creation process. We don’t discover who we are as much as we decide who we want to be and then build that person through our choices, habits, and actions. Our perspective on life changes when we recognize and take agency over our own development. The key aspect of that shift is understanding that our identity is something we actively construct, not something we passively uncover.
The most transformational leaders aren't those who spent decades finding themselves, they just had the courage to decide who they needed, or wanted, to become and then did the work to become it. The discovery model leaves you too dependent on external validation. The creation model puts the power back in your hands, in your choices, in your daily decisions about who you're becoming. 
REAL TALK - Action Steps
Shifting from discovery to creation requires changing your relationship with identity from something you find to something you build. Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

• Always Becoming 
  
  • Stop asking "Who am I?" and start declaring "This is who I am becoming." Write down a specific description of the person you're creating. Not the person you hope to discover, but the person you're choosing to build. Post this statement somewhere you'll see it daily. This is a declaration of intent. You're not describing what exists - you're committing to what you're building.
    

• Be Who You Say
  
  • When facing decisions, ask "What would the person I'm creating do in this situation?" Choose one area where you've been waiting for clarity or confidence, and instead take one action this week that the future version of you would take. The action creates the identity, not the other way around.
    

• Reflect & Refine
  
  • Journal about your self-creation. Track the gap between who you are today and who you declared you're becoming. Your identity is something you construct through consistent action toward the person you've decided to become.
    

Life is about building an ever-evolving masterpiece, one choice at a time. Stop waiting to discover yourself. Start creating yourself. The person you become will be far more interesting than the person you might have found.

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