George Orwell showed us something profound in 1984: reality isn’t fixed. It’s constructed through collective acceptance of narratives. The “Two Minutes Hate” worked because people chose to participate, to follow the prescribed emotions, to let others define their reality.
While we don’t live in Oceania, we face a similar choice every day. Are we actively creating our reality, or are we letting others build it for us?
The power you might not recognize
Every morning, you make dozens of choices that shape your reality. What information do you consume? Which voices do you listen to? How do you respond to challenges? Where do you focus your energy?
These aren’t just personal preferences - they’re reality-building decisions. When you choose to follow someone’s X, Instagram, Telegram or whatever account obsessively, you’re letting them define what’s important in your world. When you copy a competitor’s strategy without understanding why it worked for them, you’re building their reality instead of your own.
The truth is, you can never truly follow someone else’s path. As Dr. House said, “everybody lies” - but it’s deeper than that. You can never enter the same river twice. The context, timing, and circumstances that made someone else’s approach successful are unique to their journey.
The business reality you’re creating
Decision-making patterns: Every time you choose to copy what “successful” companies do without understanding your own context, you’re building someone else’s reality. Authentic positioning comes from truly understanding your own value proposition, not copying others’ messaging.
Team building choices: When you hire based on prestigious backgrounds rather than cultural fit, you’re letting others’ definitions of success shape your team. The former Google or Microsoft employee might look impressive on paper, but what matters is whether they align with your vision and can work effectively within your specific context.
Product development direction: The million-dollar question isn’t “what are others building?” but “what do I think is right?” Your product should solve problems you understand deeply, not chase trends because everyone else is doing it.
Why following wastes your life
Think about the entrepreneurs you admire. They didn’t become successful by following someone else’s blueprint. They created their own reality through consistent choices that aligned with their vision and values.
When you spend your time following others’ lives, consuming their content, trying to replicate their systems, you’re not living your own life. You’re living a secondhand version of someone else’s choices.
This isn’t about isolation or ignoring others’ experiences. It’s about the difference between learning from others and letting others think for you.
A practical framework for reality building
1. Daily Information Audit
- What information sources am I consuming today?
- Whose perspective is shaping my thinking?
- Am I seeking diverse viewpoints or echo chambers?
- What would I think about this situation if I had no outside influence?
2. Decision-Making Checkpoint Questions
- Is this decision based on my understanding of my situation?
- Am I choosing this because it worked for someone else or because it makes sense for me?
- What would I choose if I were designing my own path?
- How does this align with my actual values and goals?
3. Team and Product Choice Framework
- Does this person share my fundamental values about work and collaboration?
- Are we building something I believe in or something the market says is “hot”?
- Can I articulate why this choice makes sense for my specific context?
- Am I optimizing for external validation or internal alignment?
4. Regular Reality-Check Exercises
- Weekly: What stories am I telling myself about my business/life?
- Monthly: Which of my recent decisions were driven by fear or following?
- Quarterly: How much of my reality feels authentically mine vs. adopted from others?
The collective impact of individual choices
Here’s what’s fascinating: when you consistently make choices aligned with your own vision, you start influencing the collective reality around you. People are drawn to authentic leadership. They want to work with someone who knows what they stand for.
But it requires courage. It means accepting responsibility for your outcomes rather than blaming external circumstances. It means trusting your judgment even when it goes against popular opinion.
Your reality, your responsibility
The future gets created by people making choices. Every day, through your decisions about what to read, how to act, where to focus, and whom to hire, you’re participating in reality creation.
You can choose to be a passive consumer of others’ realities, or you can be an active creator of your own. The tools are the same - your daily choices. The difference is consciousness and intention.
The politicians, influencers, and VIPs don’t create your reality. You do. Through every choice, every day, you’re either building the world you want to live in or accepting the one others have designed for you.
Your next step
Start with one daily choice audit: What information are you consuming today, and whose reality is it building? Then ask yourself - what would I choose if I were designing my own path rather than following someone else’s?
The power to create your reality has always been in your hands. The question is: will you use it?
Philosophical Foundations:
Your approach to reality building aligns with several established philosophical traditions:
Existentialism (Sartre, Camus): The idea that you are “condemned to be free” and must take full responsibility for creating your own meaning and reality through choices.
Stoicism (Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus): Focus on what you can control (your choices, reactions, interpretations) versus what you cannot control (others’ actions, external events).
Phenomenology (Husserl, Heidegger): Reality is constructed through individual consciousness and experience - we actively participate in creating the world we perceive.
Social Construction of Reality (Berger & Luckmann): We collectively create social reality through our interactions and shared meanings, but it starts with individual choices.
Buddhist Philosophy: The recognition that suffering comes from attachment and following others’ paths rather than finding your own authentic way.
These philosophical foundations validate your intuitive understanding: meaningful change and authentic success come from conscious choice-making rather than passive following.