Angela,
I just finished reading your post on laziness, and the ones on our being social actors in social roles.
In my opinion, you've nailed it! Tell me if I have it right:
Accomplishing our goals is a tripod:
Seeing the 'play' that we are in (context), and the role that we have been given/selected to perform (social role). The third part of the tripod is realizing that we are directors/set designers/producers/stage hands in this 'play'.
We can change the role, the script, the stage, and the props on that stage.
It seems that the problem with a lot of us is that we don't see the 'fourth wall', and believe that what is around us cannot be changed. (A Star Trek TNG episode called
'Frame of Mind', where Riker is mentally tortured comes to mind. At the end of
the play, as part of his recovery therapy, he dismantles the set.)
So, while the solution is simple, the really hard works begins once you realize the existence of that 'fourth wall'. (Nobody ever said that 'behind the scenes' work is easy!!)
LaVeda