Success is about being different

It is amazing just how many people are insecure with themselves that they wish to be somebody else. I have even heard of people going as far as having face transplants to look like someone else! Now don't misunderstand me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having someone to look upto, people you look to for inspiration, guidance and support, this is different to when you seek upon doing exactly what everyone else does, i.e. becoming like the Jones' - following the crowd. This is unlikely to bring you success in your career or business. You are unique, you are the only one with your particular uniqueness, one in more than a billion people, strong and living, that is to be celebrated not discarded.

In Wes Beavis' book - 'Escape to Prosperity' he talks of how we live in a society where people want to be better than the Jones', their next door neighbour, but you do not know how those people got their success, certainly be inspired by them if necessary but do not envy and therefore feel like you are inadequate as a person. What you need to do is work on your inner self, developing your knowledge and skills in whatever you want to accomplish. "There is nothing more that speaks of success than the easy confidence that comes from living debt free," Wes Beavis. Leave the Jones' alone, if you can take some encouragement from them that is fine, but remember keeping up with the Jones' may mean keeping up with their high level of debt.

In your search for the perfect job or business you may have to do things different, like listening to motivational tapes, using a mentor for advice on matters that are pertinent to your career or business, attending seminars on interview skills and techniques, learning from experts in the field, getting advice about the presentation of your resume or CV this is not what most people do, in general people restrain themselves they ignore the work that goes first because they want success now, a symptom of the society they live in to which they have succumb.

I read a passage from John Harrison's excellent book - 'How to stop working and make a £million pounds instead'. In the book he goes on to say that the word eccentric and millionaire seem to go hand in hand it suggest that people who are rich are not normal or different from the rest of us. Though we have to be careful of this notion that rich people are not normal it is worth looking into why rich people are thought of in this fashion. So lets look at the definition of the word 'eccentric', Webster Dictionary defines the word as 'deviating from an established or usual pattern or style.' Now ofcourse millionaires deviate from an established or usual pattern or style! This is the essential pre-requisite to achieving anything worthwhile. Why? Because extraordinary results require extraordinary actions to bring them to fruition. What do you think happens when you conform to an established or usual pattern or style? That's right, you get a normal or the same usual results which does not lead to great success or wealth.

So you see, you need to re-programme your mind in order that you can get over the shackles that were placed on you as a child. As a child growing up we are taught by our parents that there is one right way of doing everything, one right way for holding a spoon, a fork and so on after all it is what the books at school say, it is where we get our instructions from. This middle of the road approach to life is certainly not a recipe for success and therefore we must realise our differences and uniqueness, learn from other successful people understanding that they did not follow the crowd, they simply took bold and courageous steps and went beyond where most people were willing to dare.

In summary, be confident in yourself that being different is okay and normal, people may comment on why you have decided to take the unfamiliar path, but do not despair you are simply doing what most successful people do. Like Shakespeare said: 'Dare to be different.'

See you soon.

Femi