Take the Time to Stand Out
I have a theory.
…it’s that we, as a society, are losing a sense of uniqueness.
Take a look around.
Right now being hipster isn’t even cool because there are so many hipsters…doesn’t this defeat the purpose?
We all want to appear smart so we say what every other person we find smart says, we write whatever they write, we read whatever they read.
We go only places others tell us to go…we do things only others tell us to do.
We don’t speak freely, we speak with the fear of judgement looming in our heads.
Maybe that’s not what you want to hear, maybe it’s exactly what you want to hear…or maybe I’m completely full of shit. But I bet you I’m right. Because I’m not out to point fingers, I’m just as guilty as anyone..and that’s how I know I’m right.
You see what I did there?
I took a stance. With conviction. Sure it may not be novel or world changing, but it displayed which side of the fence I stand on and that to me means everything. Because when push comes to shove people need to know where you stand, and most importantly …you need to know where you stand.
The truth is, standing out…has never been more of a challenge.
We are living through a time where individual content quite literally is bursting through the seams. I can’t even keep up with the amount of quality content that comes through my twitter stream everyday and I know I’m not the only one.
This is a great thing.
You think I give two shits about my follow/follower ratio on twitter? …I don’t. And I hope you don’t either. I use twitter to follow and engage with people I can learn from. Young or old. Novice or Amateur. It makes no difference.
And it’s in taking that content that comes in and using it to form our own opinions that we really give back value amongst the clutter.
Every single time I sit down to write a post, I truly think hard whether or not I’m saying something that’s already been said. And because odds are at this point, nearly everything we all write has been …it’s not about what you say, but how you say it. How you present the facts. How you choose to design… your own expression.
Because after all, we are all designers, we are all craftsmen, we are all artists of our own lives…but the reality is, standing out takes effort. Being unique takes sifting through all the clutter and coming out on the other side fresh and currently the world we live in does not help to facilitate that.
In my own life I know the main things I stand for:
1) Being wildly ambitious, taking risks, conquering my inner fears
2) Doing the impossible…achieving what others tell me can’t be done
3) Surrounding myself with constant forms of inspiration + motivation
4) In order to dedicate myself 150% to the ridiculous amount of work/learning/sacrifice I know it takes to achieve the goals I’ve set
5) And to do my best to be an example for others to do the same
I plan to continue on this theme because that’s who I am through and through. If this all sounds a little Rocky Balboa..ish, that’s because it probably is. But being unique isn’t going out of your way to be something you’re not…being unique is going out of your way to be what you are, and at my core, this is me.
So, take the time to stand out because you deserve to…
