I\u2019ve always been a little bit different. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s a good thing, and I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s a bad thing. It just is. From my earliest memories, I\u2019ve been the black sheep\u2014the one who, as business mentor Dan Williams would say, zigged when everyone else zagged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of my earliest memories was anytime we spent time with extended family. While my cousins gravitated towards fishing, working hard, and doing \u201cman things\u201d with our pop and uncles, I was the kid glued to my Nintendo. I wasn\u2019t out casting lines or fixing things. I always preferred being inside, gaming or, frankly, doing nothing. Even when my pop proudly showed off his rock collection, something everyone else seemed to admire for its beauty and effort, I unfortunately was never really impressed. I just stared at it because, let\u2019s face it, there was no internet, and I couldn\u2019t watch TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking back, it\u2019s no wonder I was a fat teenager until I turned 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, don\u2019t get me wrong. I wasn\u2019t some radical outsider. I wore the trendy shoes. I listened to the pop-punk bands of the early 2000s. I even owned a pair of those Eminem jeans every \u201ccool\u201d kid had as a millennial. But no matter how much I tried to fit in, I always felt like my choices put me slightly at odds with the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I bet, if you are reading this, in your life you have felt the same way sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, when I was 16, a friend told me something that changed my life. She said, \u201cYou could do something with your life and change the world.\u201d<\/em> That simple statement sent me down a path to fitness, self-improvement, and helping others reach their potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this has led to more pain and helped me realise that being different isn\u2019t easy. You\u2019ll make decisions others won\u2019t understand. You\u2019ll stand for things others won\u2019t stand for. And you\u2019ll face criticism for it repeatedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve lost relationships because of my refusal to conform. I\u2019ve made choices that seemed crazy to the average person\u2014choices that cost me money, status, and comfort. But what I\u2019ve realized over the years is that being different isn\u2019t a curse; it\u2019s a calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The truth is our society has twisted the narrative. We celebrate sameness and conformity while punishing individuality. And this mindset has real consequences\u2014not just for us but for future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve fallen into the trap of hedonism, chasing temporary pleasure and material gains, only to find ourselves emotionally bankrupt. The \u201cordinary\u201d narrative tells us to prioritise ourselves\u2014our wants, our desires, our comforts. And where has that gotten us? Low birth rates. Shallow connections. A world where people are more interested in Instagram likes than legacies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think about it. The most \u201cordinary\u201d thing we can do is focus only on ourselves. It\u2019s primitive. It\u2019s short-sighted. And it\u2019s killing our future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The truly extraordinary few think differently. They reject the hedonistic narrative. They build for the long term\u2014for their children, their communities, and the generations yet to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Look at history. Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King Jr. and many, many more \u2014these people were ridiculed in their time because they refused to follow the norms. They stood firm, despite the opposition, and left a legacy that shaped the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pressure creates diamonds. And yes, being different will put you under pressure. You\u2019ll be misunderstood, alienated, even criticised. But that\u2019s what has the potential to make you extraordinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we enter a new year, I want you to embrace this truth. The truth that being different isn\u2019t just okay, it\u2019s necessary. History teaches us that when societies conform, they crumble. The Roman Empire fell because it prioritised comfort over discipline, free grain for votes, self-interest over spiritual, physical, and emotional contentment. Which to me sounds awfully familiar to our current times?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The barbarians are already at the gate, but you don\u2019t have to follow the crowd. Be different. Say no to the ordinary. Choose a life of meaning and purpose. Live in a way that others won\u2019t, so you can achieve what others can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 80% of the population does or is the top 20% of anything. The top 20% does or is the top 80%. Then there\u2019s the top 20% of the top 20%. Finishing with the top 0.8%. The extraordinary few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By standing apart, you join an elite group. You think beyond today. You build for tomorrow. You create a life that others don\u2019t understand\u2014and that\u2019s okay. Because it\u2019s not their understanding that matters; it\u2019s yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The world doesn\u2019t need more of the same. It needs people who refuse to settle for ordinary. It needs people like you. People who are willing to be different, to think ahead, and to leave something better behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s what makes you extraordinary. That\u2019s what makes you you. And if they don\u2019t get it? That\u2019s fine. They\u2019re not meant to. You\u2019re not here to be understood by the masses. You\u2019re here to stand with the extraordinary few.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve always been a little bit different. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s a good thing, and I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s a bad thing. It just is. From my earliest memories, I\u2019ve been the black sheep\u2014the one who, as business mentor Dan Williams would say, zigged when everyone else zagged. One of my earliest memories was anytime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495,"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions\/495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vassesc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}