How Eccentricity Can Catapult Your Career
SQI Security Entrepreneur Series 40
Weird Is The New Cool: So Start Unleashing Your Quirkiness
Let’s face it, high school is challenging. Not so much the lessons, which tend to be pretty simple. The most difficult aspect of high school is negotiating the norms and expectations of an opinionated adolescent microsociety, and doing everything possible, including tremendous leaps of energy and inventiveness, to avoid doing or doing anything that would earn the unshakeable label of being odd.
Being labeled as unusual in high school is a death sentence. So most people try to appear like everyone else. However, in the end, we are all hiding. We’re still figuring out who we are and where we are on the social interaction spectrum.
Mistakes are unavoidable, but they should be committed in secret, away from the limelight of the halls, lunchroom, or special events. High school students are permitted to be nervous wrecks, fearful that their own shadow would mock them if they slip and fall. However, it should have stopped there. Shouldn’t the crushing desire for peer acceptance go away after we graduate from high school and become well-adjusted adults? The high school years are long gone, yet the social pressure to adhere to others’ expectations remains as powerful as it has ever been. Everyone, young and old, it seemed, is still terrified of seeming odd.
This widespread sense of unease overlooks a fundamental fact. It’s OK to be eccentric. Weirdness is frequently a sign of latent power waiting to be unlocked. Throughout history, the best and brightest among us, the great inventors and innovators, have been those who have been ready to stand out and risk being viewed as strange. We are free to harness and expand the power of our various differences when I allow you to be you and you let me be me, without judgment or criticism.
Nobody is normal because everyone is strange. And it’s okay to be strange! It’s okay to be unique! It’s okay to be different! In fact, it’s natural. And, really, it’s the only way to be. Why? Personality occurs on a continuum. There is no correct or incorrect position on the spectrum. The concept of being objectively normal was invented in order to sell things and advance political goals. What I consider to be normal may not be normal for you. We lose sight of the natural when we seek the conventional. The new normal is natural. We all have characteristics that distinguish us from one another, whether they be physical, intellectual, emotional, or other.
The Ego believes that differences are defects that should be concealed. The fact is that your superpower is what distinguishes you. You simply haven’t figured out how to use it yet. Instead of concealing your oddness, figure out how to make it work for you. For example, your timidity may make you a better listener. Your uncomfortable chuckle may charm you to others. When we conquer our peculiarities, we gain immense power.
When you strive to fit into the mold of someone else, the outcomes will be substandard. Nobody pays to see the predictable; they pay to see the intriguing. By definition, your actual self is enticing. People will remember the thing you did that only you can do, not the thing you did that everyone can do. Authenticity is in great demand in a society where conformity is the easy choice.
Everyone wants to be more authentic, but we’re all frightened of being the first. When you start living as your actual self, quirks and all, you follow others permission to do the same. We may not say it out loud, but everyone wants to see your authentic self. We yearn for authenticity. Every good artistic breakthrough – artistic, musical, scientific, etc. – is strange by definition because it provides a solution that is outside of the established paradigm. it necessitates a shift in thinking.
Embracing your oddness provides you with a fresh viewpoint, and the world desperately needs a new perspective. The status quo does not foster innovation. When outsiders challenge the established quo with unusual ideas, this is when innovation occurs. Everyone has their own qualities. Allowing ourselves to display these distinct features makes us happy.
However, suppressing our distinctive features and denying our natural selves makes us feel bad and darkens our identities. Resistance to our distinctive features, however strange, results in a dark and inverted projection of self, much as a black hole emerges from the absence of a star. Many individuals who conform do so because they are afraid of being alone. Standing out, on the other hand, will not make you lonely – far from it. By living honestly, you will meet others who share your oddness.
This is your clan. When you step up and live your mission, you will discover those who have gone before you, and you will be an inspiration to those who will come after you. On the surface, new notions, such as biological mutations, seem to be out of place. However, biological mutations, like new ideas, evolve through time and serve unexpected purposes. The mutation is eventually reproduced and contributes to the evolution of the species. Ideas are the evolutionary force that propels civilization forward.
What is strange now may not be understood tomorrow, but it may become the new normal. Others will perceive you as competent if you consider yourself as capable. Others will perceive you as incapable if you see yourself as unable. Self-perception has a lot of clout. It might be unsettling at first to stop letting in and start sticking out. However, if you accept responsibility for your activities and disregard your fear of criticism, the world will conform to your vision of yourself to the extent of your conviction.
Get Noticed For Your Weirdness:
HOW TO EMBRACE YOUR WEIRDNESS CREATE NEW SKILLS Perhaps you feel different but not dierent enough. Maybe you feel like you are holding back some of the things that make you so unique. Maybe you’re not feeling like you’re reaching your full potential of personality. Now that you know that people who others call strange are the ones most likely to be comfortable, happy, and successful, you might be asking how you can reach new heights in strangeness. Here are a few tips to follow if you want to be the realest you possible.
CREATE NEW SKILLS
Make yourself useful in any setting to ensure that other people and you are fascinating. Many social scientists and professionals advise you to take on or strive to acquire as many valuable talents as possible, ranging from web design to vehicle repair. That way, whether a buddy needs a website for her new company or a blanket for her infant niece, you’ll always be the go-to guy
STAY CURIOUS One method to guarantee that you’re uninteresting is to close yourself to opposing thoughts and points of view. Instead, actively seek out fresh ideas and experiences that will alter your thinking and feelings. Keep an open mind and be inquisitive. Allow for a complicated world with many interpretations. Learn new things to widen and develop your viewpoint. Be a lifelong learner. Learning does not stop after you graduate from high school. There is always something fresh to learn about and immerse oneself in.
FOLLOW YOUR PASSION
Instead of studying about a bunch of boring things merely to be educated, focus on areas that you find interesting. When you describe them to others, you’ll sound more energetic and engaging. Life is too short to not follow your passion and embrace what you love.
One of the benefits of doing that is that you’re happier. It also happens to make you successful too. It’s not so much a question of attempting to be intriguing as it is of simply pursuing your interests, of being an ardent student and collector of knowledge that intrigues and thrills you.
READ A LOT!
When you have the time and money to explore the globe, that’s fantastic. Even if you don’t, you can learn about many cultures and historical times by reading whatever you can get your hands on. Books, blogs, and journals – read as many fresh tales and ideas as you can. According to studies, those who read more fiction are more empathetic and understanding of others. Those are two qualities and personality characteristics that everyone should aspire towards. People that read a lot may be labeled as nerds or “weird” but if they’re creating such wonderful, strong, and comfortable personalities, it doesn’t matter what others think of them.
BEING ODD IS SURPRISING-AND EXCITING
Surprises have a higher chance of persuading consumers. We may elicit an emotional reaction by surprising someone. As part of an emotional reaction, our brain is structured to release dopamine. Surprising and eventually pleasing a consumer creates a long-lasting impact and can also create life-long customers.
BEING UNIQUE MAKES YOU MEMORABLE
We recall the extraordinary experiences in our life rather than the routine ones. If no one recalls your brand message, you won’t be able to impact them. One of the compliments you can get is that you are different and, therefore, memorable. We remember unusual individuals and companies.
BEING NORMAL IS BORING
Scarcity raises the value. Diamonds are valued largely due to their scarcity. Sand and salt are significantly less valuable, not because they are unusable, but because they are so common and abundant.
BEING DIFFERENT MAKES YOU NOTICEABLE
We become invisible when we blend in and follow the crowd. No one can see us if we execute our jobs correctly. Everyone drives right by if our company is in. Nobody comes to a halt. They have no idea we’re even there. If they do stop, they don’t stay long and don’t purchase anything since our products or services are the same as everyone else’s. We don’t get noticed if we t in. And one of the most significant things we can get from consumers is their attention.
BEING NORMAL IS EASY TO IMITATE
When there exist viable alternatives, the value of any product or service quickly declines. A clear illustration comes from the workplace. When a machine or an outsourced contractor in another place can perform someone’s work quicker or cheaper, that person’s employment becomes less valuable. The compensation for that post falls, as does the chance of being replaced. Imitation is avoided by original brands. They make it tough to replace them. There are no suitable replacements.
Having the confidence to celebrate your differences and express your thoughts can help you thrive in almost any profession. So keep going. Encourage yourself to offer thoughts or solutions to long-standing issues. Make a proposal for your huge, crazy fantasy project. Embrace your oddness; it’s more valuable than you realize.
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