Well, this is it, folks: we´re in September now, and it´s time to get to work.

It´s time to get back to the routine (not monotony), or rather, to create a new routine, as every year is different, even if it only changes a little (and in our case, this year, it´s changing a lot, let´s see how it goes).

It´s also a good moment to turn over a new leaf and start a project. Many take advantage of the back-to-school season and sign up for a gym, or begin to learn something new; advertising agencies are very familiar with this process... (By the way, I stopped watching conventional TV a long time ago, but I remember that back in the day, September used to be packed with ads for weekly or monthly fascicle collectables. Are they still in fashion? Or maybe they became a thing of the past? Would people still buy them?)

A few days ago, I was listening to ads on the radio, and this comic strip from Mafalda popped into my head:

Here´s the translation: there are four frames:

• Mafalda switches off her TV set (¡click!) while saying: ¡"Use", "Buy", "Drink", "Eat", "Try"!… ¡EEEEEEEH!… What do they think we are?
• She sits back down and frowns, thinking: And what are we?
• Silently, she switches the TV on again (¡click!), and sits back down.
• Watching TV again, she thinks: Damn them, they know that we still don´t know.

What do you think? What I love about Mafalda´s comic strips, and all of Quino´s work in general, is that their themes and messages are still very relevant in today´s world, over forty or fifty years after their publication. Times change, of course, and there are a few details that reveal the passing of time, but generally speaking, they have aged surprisingly well.

Or maybe it´s not that surprising, given that deep down, humans don´t really change that much, and there are so many repeating patterns... In the same way Mafalda and her friends found it difficult to believe their parents grew up without television, our kids now find it hard to imagine how we grew up without the internet or mobile phones, and the next generation will struggle to conceive life without artificial intelligence.

What Quino was able to do brilliantly is to capture human nature in a humorous way, with all its paradoxes and contradictions. With reflections that appear to be simple but turn out to be really powerful. One day, I´ll bring you more of his comic strips so that we can reflect on them together.

But let´s get back to today´s topic: why did I choose this particular strip? Because if we don´t know who we are or what we want, we let ourselves be influenced a lot more easily by other people´s interests. And that, eventually, takes its toll.

If we don´t set and define our own goals, we end up working for the goals of others. It´s that simple.

Seneca explained it this way:

There is no favourable wind for the sailor who doesn’t know where to go

And Gary Lew said it this way (I have this one in a fridge magnet):

This is your world. Shape it, or someone else will.

What about you? How would you like to shape your world, starting now in September? What do you want to achieve this school year?