This one’s short and sweet. It may seem pretty intuitive, but I hope this reminder may help spark something in your work this week. Start blog post in 3, 2, 1…
Okay so you’re in your 20s and your entrepreneurial spirit and intense passion for clowns go on a date, resulting in the birth of a tremendous idea. You want to start a circus. What?! You start thinking what a sweet gig it would be to travel the country (heck, maybe even the world!), bringing joy to thousands (heck, maybe even millions) of people, and being the mastermind behind one of the hottest shows on earth. Then, your buddy, who always has liked licking people’s lollipops, says, “Dude, that’s a stupid idea. Haven’t you ever heard of Barnum and Bailey’s Circus? It’s called the greatest show on earth for a reason.” After crying for a bit (whimp), you then think to yourself, I’m not the stupid one, I’m a genius, which is why I won’t compete with Barnum and Bailey, my circus is going to be something new, something different, something frickin awesome! And then you create Cirque du Soleil (yea I had to google to find the spelling). Congrats, you didn’t settle for normal.
All eyes on you in the middle of the ring just like a circus.
End crazy talk, begin blog post in 3, 2, 1… If you settle for normal, you’re going to get lost in the clutter. Whether it’s that spreadsheet you’re making for work or the multimillion dollar ad campaign you’re designing, normal won’t cut it. When you’re making your spreadsheet, make it all sorts of pretty colors, or show off your skills by putting in a VLOOKUP formula. Instead of staying with your tried and true formula for making an advertising campaign, spice things up a little bit. Throw some guerrilla marketing in there, make a commercial that makes the viewer say “holy guacamole.”
Viewer, upon seeing your commercial: "Holy Guacamole"
What if nobody settled for normal and everyone was an overachiever who went above and beyond on everything they did? Well they’re not, so that’s like wondering what would happen if it rained chocolate. The reality is that a large percentage of people/companies are okay with slightly above average and “normal” ways of doing things. That makes for a heck of a lot of clutter out there and is a pretty inefficient way of doing things. But, any inefficiency creates an opportunity for someone, and this is your opportunity to spice things up a bit and put your work in the spotlight. Doing this can help in countless ways, whether it’s getting a job, getting a promotion, or helping your company succeed. Just by going above and beyond expectations or putting your mark on a certain piece of work, you can ensure that your audience will remember you.
So, ask yourself this. Why settle for normal? Normal equals average. You don’t want to be average do you? That’s a C. Where I come from, C’s don’t cut it in the long run. You want that A? Spice it up a bit. That’s all I have to say about that.
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“Why Settle for Normal?” – http://bit.ly/ztVDf – New blog post by @jackieadkins
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