This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more.
Morpheus to Neo, The Matrix (1999)
In The Matrix, Neo hears rumors of the Matrix and a mysterious man named Morpheus. Neo spends his nights at his home computer trying to discover the secret of the Matrix and what the Matrix is. Eventually, another hacker, Trinity, introduces Neo to Morpheus.
Morpheus explains to Neo that the Matrix is an illusory world created to prevent humans from discovering that they are slaves to an external influence. Holding out a capsule on each of his palms, he describes the choice facing Neo. The blue pill will allow the subject to remain in the fabricated reality of the Matrix, while the red serves as a "location device" to locate the subject's body in the real world and to prepare him or her to be "unplugged" from the Matrix. Once one chooses the red or blue pill, the choice is irrevocable. "Bluepills" are people who have either elected to remain in the Matrix or have not yet been offered the choice, while "redpills" have chosen to disconnect.
Neo takes the red pill and awakens in the real world, where he is forcibly ejected from the liquid-filled chamber in which he has been lying unconscious. After his rescue and convalescence aboard Morpheus' ship, Morpheus shows him the true nature of the Matrix: a detailed computer simulation of Earth at the end of the 20th century (the actual year, though not known for sure, is approximately two hundred years later). It has been created to keep the minds of humans docile while their bodies are stored in massive power plants, their body heat and bioelectricity consumed as power by the sentient machines that have enslaved them.
I'd like to compare performance contracting to this scene. When one does performance contracting, you offer the person a choice: Stay in his/her comfort zone, or take the exciting/scary/uncertain road with the goal of improvement and realize your true potential?
I am not saying that taking the red pill means doing something that you are not good at, though that is also a choice. What I mean is to increase your standards of performance, or your goals, or your sense of purpose.
Neither am I saying that staying in the same level of performance is wrong. It is just that I believe that each person has that even better level of performance, which can contribute more to their organization's purpose or state of affairs of their society. But if you feel that you are at your best in your current status, then you should take the blue pill.
I consider that I took the red pill when I transferred from UP Manila to the PMS. While I did strive to learn and improve when I was at UP Manila, working at PMS was an altogether different level of work, performance, and sense of purpose. It was never a smooth ride. I felt that I was never able to see the end of that deep "rabbit hole" Morpheus mentioned. Still, I know I have improved, and I continue to improve, and I am able to contribute to this organization's purpose and goals.
Will you take the blue pill or the red pill?
