BECOME EXTRAORDINARY IN AN ORDINARY WORLD

Our society is so intricately connected and interwoven that a graphical representation of how individuals are networked yields a nightmarish image. Our connections are on three levels, personal, physical, and virtual. 

Personal connections are through family, friends, and to a certain extent colleagues. With these, we share bonds in culture, education, upbringing, and pursuits and our attachment to these interests or for each other is what binds us. 

Physical connections are visible infrastructure that joins us such as the transport network – road, rail, air, and sea, – social utility centers such as schools, hospitals, churches, and marketplaces, and finally, our geographical identity which begins with our village or neighborhood, to what we identify as our country. 

The third level of connectivity is virtual, and it involves the telecommunications network, mass media, and the internet.

Our world is intricately connected

By having the knowledge about everyone and everything placed at our fingertips literally, the world has lost its novelty. We feel like there is nothing new under the sun. We have seen it all and save for the outrageous and demeaning, people have become boring. 

How then do you differentiate yourself and become extraordinary in a world where everyone has suddenly become very extraordinary?

The obvious way to become extraordinary is to stop doing what everyone else is doing. Cut down the time you spend on social media and online bingeing. Instead, devote a majority of your time to one on one interaction with friends and colleagues. Meet, interact with and network with new people every day. On this point, ensure that your new acquaintances and friends outnumber new friends you make on virtual platforms. 

Gain perspective. This is sometimes called “self-awareness” or “self-examination.” It is the sense of knowing oneself. Perspective requires honesty and humility, identifying one’s strengths and weaknesses without prejudice or excuse. It enables acceptance of realities and recognition of the obstacles ahead.

Make sure you live a life of purpose. Avoid aimless drifting between appointments or crises without any inclination of why exactly you are doing what you do. Extraordinary people focus on the goals most important to them, not what others think. 

Live a life of purpose

Pleasing others or amassing fortunes are byproducts of their pursuit rather than objectives to be achieved. Passion is critical to purpose. We commit to the most meaningful, enjoyable, and important activities, spending our time and money to participate in them. Combining passion with purpose in life motivates our psyche and refuels us when setbacks occur.

Cultivate and remain confident at every turn. Belief in one’s abilities is a powerful asset and essential in pursuing goals, physical or emotional. Confidence is the combination of self-belief and self-esteem. if we truly knew ourselves — our strengths, our abilities, our resources, our depth of feeling, our sense of humor, our unique accomplishments — we would never again doubt our ability to create a better future.”

Cultivate bravery to confront any difficulty no matter how insurmountable it may appear, this calls for courage. Courage is more than being heroic and more than participating in dangerous activities. Courage is also visible in everyday life around us — to forge ahead despite obstacles or standing up for the persecuted, disadvantaged, and overlooked.

Courage is about facing your fear to fulfill your responsibilities.

Strive to be different and pursue the road less taken.

A personality that every leader likes to emphasize is persistence, and it is not by mistake.  Accomplishment is rarely a straight-line process, more often resembling a cyclical monthly graph of Bitcoin prices. Setbacks accompany victories. Learning opportunities, such as failures and disappointments, are more common than success. Winners overcome uncertainty with the confidence that they will succeed eventually. Persistence is the greatest force in the universe, evident in the flattened mountains and great canyons carved out by rain and wind.