Are You Independent?

We're lucky enough to see this out on our front lawn.
People love legally blowing stuff up around my house.

With the US National Holiday for Independence just around the corner, I couldn't help but thinking about what independence really means.  I like the way that Steven Covey defines it in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and even appreciate the fact that he uses the term interdependence as the next step towards high effectiveness maturity. However, the definition he builds doesn't really bring up the fact that many different aspects of our lives can simultaneously be on the the dependence->independence->interdependence maturity chain. I'll use my life as an example, and then hopefully get some feedback from everyone if they agree my with my introspection, and also see if anyone feels they'd like to share.

In my home life, my wife and I are interdependent with one another. I rely on her to take care of the beautiful family we have, and she relies on me to provide us with financial security (and to do the occasional spider squashing). Granted, I've reduced down our interdependence on one another to a very basic level with this example - but as a husband and wife we've reached the interdependence stage. That brings me to my job.

Right now I am dependent on my employer for having a paycheck. Don't get me wrong, it's a really good paycheck and I have amazing health and fringe benefits. But they're not mine. I didn't create the company I work for, and at the end of the day, even though their mission statement and mine line up pretty nicely - I'm still dependent on them for financial stability. Until such time as my investments and alternative revenue streams can replace my paycheck, I'm not independent of having an employer.

So, this is what I mean when I say that Dr. Covey missed something when he talked about this effectiveness maturity model. Many different aspects of our lives could be evaluated based on our maturity towards interdependence, and along the way we talk about independence. So, on Independence Day remember what that really means. It means we're free to take the opportunity to stand on our own two feet and do something. We can all work on becoming interdependent entrepreneurs in control of our own financial destinies. So let's get to work.