Set Yourself Apart
In a world full of multitudes of people with competing skills, how do you set yourself apart from others? With the onset of the Internet, learning has becoming an easily accessible task. A few clicks here and you can proclaim yourself as an expert in any topic. What is needed in a world where everyone has access to the same information is to place yourself on a path that shows others who you are, what you have and why you are the ONLY choice they will need to make.
What's Your Passion
In a study conducted by Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Patler[1] participants were divided into two groups, Group A and Group B. Group A represented people who chose a career based on the potential of making money now. Group B encompassed people who pursued what they wanted now regardless of how much money they would make. At the end of 20 years, 101 out of 1,500 people became millionaires and 100 of those people came out of Group B. This study shows how passion makes a difference in the outcome of a person’s career.
Setting yourself apart from others requires passion. Once you tap into what really drives you, your possibilities are limitless. You will tap into hidden potential you didn’t know you had and will discover things about yourself you had no clue about. Because you are tapping into your passion, you are energized and able to push forward, even in the face of obstacles because the outcome you believe in means so much more than stopping or not trying at all. You take risks and are able to learn from it despite whether the outcome is positive or negative.
Passion really does provide the edge necessary to set yourself apart.
Becoming the Only Choice
So how do you become the ONLY choice? The first step is to know you. You have to know your strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to set a realistic plan and sets you up for success.
What is your passion? What drives you? What keeps you up at night because it’s a problem you feel only you can solve? Once you know your passion, you can t
ap into this as motivation to keep pushing forward towards your goal. Passion makes you confident- when you love what you do, you take risks that you wouldn’t normally take. Passion sets you apart and gets you noticed.
Prepare, prepare, prepare! Learn all that you can about the subject. Research- create google alerts. Become overwhelmed with knowledge about your passion- be the first to know. Take the time to know what you need to about your passion and then use that to present it in a way that helps you stand out.
Align your priorities to include your passion. Focus on what it takes to get what you are aiming for. Be strategic and invest your time in actions that will reap a reward.
Action! Be the person who takes the first step without being told. This is the difference between success and failing- your initiative helps you to see the good in every step you take- it gives you momentum to keep moving forward until you have achieved your goals. Show what you know rather than speaking it. Show up as the expert- this is your thing! If you are not confident now, fake it until you make it. The more you practice the more comfortable you will be- it will become second nature to you.
Enlist a champion. Find someone who will help you achieve your goal- someone who believes in you. A champion will back you up and provide you with support- create a safe environment for you. The best benefit in having a champion is that there is someone who is singing your praises and validating the knowledge you have- publicity seals the deal and shows you are the ONLY choice.
When you tap into your reason for being- the reason you were placed here on earth, you’ll naturally move towards your goal. You’ll use your unique strengths to deliver in ways that no one else could and it shows others you are the ONLY choice.
[1] Kriegel and Patler, If It Ain’t Broke . . . Break It!, p. 259