STAND OUT, MAKE A MARK

Some people are content just to be another face in the crowd. By assuming this attitude, they are saying, in effect, to the rest of the world, I’m just average; there’s nothing special about me. For those of us who would rather stand out from the crowd, there are some relatively easy ways but they do require a little bit of commitment on our part.

Follow the following tips to stand out from the crowd:

1. Take time to do the little things right.

The old saying goes that if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Well, that’s not necessarily true, as there are some easy things most people don’t do because they just don’t think those things are worthwhile. The next time you go to the grocery store, notice how many people actually take time to carry the carts back to the cart-return. You will probably notice that only a very few of them do. Others are saying to the world, I don’t have time to do things right or everyone else is doing it that way and I am no different.

The other example has to do with making proper turns while driving, including using your turn signal. Remember how you were taught in driving school? You are supposed to make sharp rights and wide lefts. These are just a couple of examples, but taking the time to do the little things right will make you stand out for the right reasons.

2. Find alternatives to profanity (bad language).

A person who relies on profanity in his speech comes off as ‘boorish’. There are plenty of ways to tell someone exactly what you think about them without being profane. Even a person who is not all that intelligent seems a lot smarter when he avoids the use of profanity. At a minimum, that person seems more high-class than people who just can’t stop themselves from using profanity.

3. Remember things that most other people commonly forget.

For example, 90% of US citizens can’t name the losing candidate in the last election. People are just so caught up in their own little worlds that they don’t bother to retain certain things that don’t directly affect them. You don’t need a photographic memory to memorise stuff. All you have to do is practise. Write things down. Repeat them to yourself. If you can commonly remember things that others have long forgotten, you’ll really stand out.

4. Live below your means.

This is probably the toughest item on my list to follow as our culture dictates that we mortgage ourselves to the hilt. We are taught to buy everything the banks and our credit cards will allow us to buy, whether we can afford it or not. However, we should strive to leave as big a gap as possible between our income and our bills. I know there are people out there who have large families and/or limited incomes and are struggling to make ends meet. I grew up in a very poor family. We lived in housing projects from the time I was six until the time I was 18. However, we were always able to pay our bills on time because my parents didn’t buy things they couldn’t afford. When I began my career, I didn’t make much, but I still always had some money to spare after paying my bills. If I couldn’t afford something, I didn’t buy it. There were even some things that I was able to afford but still didn’t buy because I wanted to have some money left for unexpected expenses. There is a lot of freedom that comes with living below one’s means. When everyone around you is struggling to make ends meet and you’re not, you really stand out.

5. Make decisions based on logic and reason instead of emotion and/or dogma.

Too many people react emotionally to situations, rather than thinking them out rationally. For example, many people will get upset if someone calls them a name or flashes a particular gesture at them, even though there’s no logical reason to get so agitated by such behaviour. It doesn’t make you a Stupid just because someone calls you one. However, many people react as if it does. Other people get caught in the dogma (belief) trap. They make up their minds first and then look at the facts and evidence later. Even when they do get around to the facts, they will seek only those which seem to support their views while disregarding or explaining away those which seem to support a contrary view. You’ve met people who are staunch supporters of one particular political party or the other, for example. To them, their party is always right and the other is always wrong, even though common sense tells us that one particular side of any issue is never right all the time. Reasonable people realise that the truth usually lies somewhere between the two extremes. Many times, I’ve come across rah-rah partisan sites in the web, which disregard the dictates of common sense in favour of the fact that their extreme side has cornered the market on all truth. By using logic and reason to make your decisions in an open-minded fashion, you give yourself a major advantage over much of the population.   (By: Terry Mitchell)