Fitting in by Standing Out

Never forget that you were created to be an original! There is not another you in the entirety of history. The world will be a much better place with you as an original instead of a copy. We need more voices and less echoes in the world today. Be and Original! Be a Voice! I hope that today you become all that you were meant to be and not merely go through the routine that everyone else is going in. You are worth so much more, and you deserve so much more than merely blending into the mass noise that attempts to drown you out. You are an original masterpiece. Be an original. I have twins, but no matter how identical I try to make them, they have been uniquely and wonderfully made to be different.

Many people spend their whole lives trying to fit in to a mold or a rat race which is a box that actually limits your creativity  ingenuity and entrepreneur spirit. What would happen if you became the norm, the measure of success, the standard by which all others were gauged by? What if instead of you trying to fit into everyone else’s mode that they were trying to be like you? I want to encourage you that it is possible to stand out even while fitting in. People often think that in order to stand out you have to be weird, abnormal or crazy but I think that there are always fringes that try to distort the true meaning of uniqueness. You can stand out in your integrity, your character, your love, your commitment and your goals. You can stand out in your drive for perfection, cohesiveness, unity an charisma. You can stand out in the crowd while fitting into the organization, community, church or career that you have chosen. Your good works will stand out even while you fit in. Never become so engrossed in one way of doing things that you lose your ability to think of something totally different. It is not just thinking outside the box, sometimes it is thinking inside the box. Try to fit in where you have been planted and flourish there. Try to use your gifts, talents and abilities to better the lives that are around you. This will definitely cause you to stand out from others. Thinking about others first is not a common practice so when people learn that this is how you operate, you will stand out in their minds. People will want you to be a part of their group and will go out of their way to include you, support you or even promote you.  Fit in by standing out!

Remember the times when you found yourself standing out from others, like when you first realized that your voice was changing while other guys voices were remaining the same; or the time when you started excelling in algebra when others were still struggling with simple equations; or when your desires for something greater started to push you further and further away from those who were just satisfied to be a part of the sidelines looking in. You wanted to still fit in because you didn’t want people to look at you strange to not include you because you were different. You began standing out from the crowd and it felt uncomfortable but what you didn’t realize was that you were growing  expanding and developing. You were no longer being confined to the limitations that once rightfully had you constrained. And even though you wanted to stay a part of the pack, you were glad to moving forward. There was something encouraging about standing out and moving forward. This goes to show you that no matter how good being a part of the group is you still want to retain your individuality. This is a strength so use it don’t lose it.

I think that it is important to point out that fitting in should never require you to abandon who you really are. You should never compromise the real you to become someone who you are not. You have culture, beliefs and values that make you fearfully and wonderfully YOU. If we were all meant to be the same then we would all look-alike, act-alike and strive to be-alike and to me, that would be a boring world. There are some norms that enable us to a have a civil society and I am glad for that but I also appreciate that our uniqueness is an asset and not a liability. Your spouse, your children, family, co-workers, employers and friends like you for who you are. Go out today and do something great that stands out in their mind that reminds them why they love you so much, or like you so much, or want to be around you so much. Let your actions and your attitude be a constant reminder to all that you are an original and worth spending time with. Fit in today but also Stand Out!

Eric Smith

Finishing Strong

It has been said that how you start a thing is how you end a thing. Sometimes this is true but sometimes, how you end a thing is better than you started. There may be things in your life that did not start out well and you may have thought that there was no hope for you. You may have even thought that you would be held captive by your beginnings for the rest of your life,which by all accounts almost counted you out. This year you may have made some New Year resolutions and promised yourself that things would be different this year.  You may have said you would start a new job, go back to school, move to a new city or even lose some weight. You may have started out strong by doing everything that it would take to complete your goal,  but somewhere along the way your drive began to wane, and your passion to push forward began to fade. You may have had a good desire to start but was that desire enough to carry you through the whole year. Ask yourself “how big is my want too! How bad do I want to end well?” 

You have to make up your mind, whether in business, in school or even in your home that the end of a thing is greater than the beginning of a thing and this is no time to give up, cave in or throw in the towel. You have to make up your mind that you want to  Finish Strong! Finish strong for your family. Finish strong for your dream to come true. Finish what you started, even if you started off wrong. Just because you started off one way does not mean that your course has been charted and there is no way to get ahead. Your outcome is not dictated by your start. How you finish does matter. If you want a good start to 2013, you have to do all you can to end 2012 strong. You need the strength to endure all the way to the end. Don’t let frustration stop you, don’t let distractions deter you, don’t let stress keep you falling short; gird up your mind, strengthen your feeble knees and resolve that you will not let 2012 end until you finish strong! 2013 is counting on you finishing up this year in a good starting position.

Some people are content with saying that they will just limp to the finish line. Limping across the finish line may be completing the journey for some people. They may have been so beaten down by life that this seems like the only way that they will accomplish their goal by barely making it. The road may have been rough this year and the desire to give up may be creeping at your door but you have got to do your best to finish what you start. Don’t let your setbacks become a set up for failure, rather, let your setbacks become a setup for your comeback! Whether you are the visionary or the doorman, determine to finish strong. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'”  No matter where you find yourself in your life, no matter how low you may have felt at times you have got to know that “the race is not given to the swift or to the strong, but to the one who endures until the end.”  Make up your mind not to just survive but to thrive!

I really appreciate you all journeying me this year on a leadershift. I did not know how my blog would be received and I didn’t know the impact that it would make on so many people. I want to thank you for allowing me to encourage you and motivate you to be more successful than you are. I hope that your plans, hopes and dreams all come to pass in the upcoming year but more importantly, I want you to finish this year out strong. It is not too late to finish your course this year stronger than ever before. A while back I told you to get from the day and not just through the day. The same applies for this year, get from this year and not just through it. Don’t stop because you are tired. Stop because you are done! See you in 2013.

Eric Smith