Disagree with the Status Quo

In Biblical times, it is written, man and woman decided to disagree with the status quo by eating the apple from the tree of knowledge. They were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Fortunately, as men and women of today, we grow and cultivate our own gardens.


Fundamentally, all productive human action is a disagreement with the status quo. Unlike other living creatures that must accept what is before them, humans must produce what they need to survive. The only time this wasn’t so was when humans were, like the animals, gatherers of berries, or hunters of other animals. 


Disagreement with the status quo means that we choose to recombine, move, or rearrange the elements that nature has provided us, and to use the laws of nature to power our productive efforts. Man himself has become a force of nature. It is an awesome power and one that makes us human.

A healthy ego is that which makes this possible. It is also why the enemies of man’s productive effort attack the ego. When you take action you disagree with inertia. When you produce you are disagreeing with the status quo. Work itself is a disagreement with the status quo. You work to produce a change or result of some sort, be it planting a garden, writing a book, or building a skyscraper. In a very real sense action and production represent life asserting itself against death.

It takes a willingness to sweat, to be tired and uncomfortable to produce most things of value in this world. You don’t move mountains by wishing. You move mountains with knowledge, action, a steady process of work, time, and guts—the gumption of a self-assertive healthy ego. 


Then, when a job is done, you are also rewarded by moments of quiet satisfaction, when you feel a justifiable pride in what you have accomplished. Your motivation to achieve more will increase dramatically.


Producers are essentially restless with a strong desire for something different, and a willingness to do something about it. Production requires all of this. It disagrees with the status quo.

“Take the course opposite custom and you will do well.”—Jean Jacques Rousseau

“To create anything at all in any field, and especially anything of outstanding worth, requires non-conformity, or a want of satisfaction with things as they are.”—Ben Shahn

“Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority, the cherishing of the keenest skepticism, and the annihilation of the spirit of blind faith.”—T. H. Huxley

Questions for Self Reflection:

•           Am I “making do” instead of working to change the status quo?

•           In what way does my work “disagree with the status quo”?

•           In what ways do I intend to disagree with the status quo in the future?

Ken West is a former U.S. Army paratrooper and the author of Get What You Want (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982577702) available worldwide on Amazon.com and other fine online booksellers. West is a former President of the New England Chapter of the National Speakers Association, and Association of Objectivist Businessmen. Ken West speaks and writes on motivation, achievement, and getting what you want.