Never Let Anyone Monkey With Your Swing
Tuesday, December 08, 2020 - Filed in: General Interest
How can one stand out in a room full of naturally extraordinary, equally talented, and similarly driven people?
A question whose answer is as elusive as it is important (and slightly pretentious).
With so many of us following the same beaten paths, it’s laborious to find that which will make us shine upon arrival at our destination, if we haven’t found it already.
But we have to make ourselves brighter than those around us, or risk being overlooked.
I don’t presume to know the silver bullet here (nor do I believe that there is one), the one thing that can set us apart. Curiously, however, if we are all working to set ourselves apart, is anyone really being an individual anymore? Isn’t the real individual here the person who stands by their convictions and is true to themselves?
For me, the best approach has always been — as cliché and trite as it may sound — to be yourself. If your best, most comforting self is no more stellar than the other people you are with, then change — but only if that is actually what you want.
A balance must be struck between being genuine and being original, between being yourself and being innovative, fresh even. But when in doubt, choose the former.
The self-help industry, with its myriad of books, podcasts and blogs on the 10 Ways to do anything in the world, does a good job of selling change. I say, never let anyone monkey with your swing — one of the purest pieces of sage advice I’ve ever received that speaks to me so truly.
It’s simple. However you choose to navigate this boundless terrain that is planet earth, do it. Whatever your intrinsic swing is, keep it yours. Do you.