Every Kid in America ^^^
Everyone gets a trophy.
That’s how it’s been for a few years now. We’re starting to see some of the repercussions entering the workforce with entitlement stamps on their resumes. Just because you earned a piece of paper, doesn’t mean you get to make $60,000/year in your first job.
Aside from little league sports, trophies are not given for participation.
You don’t get A’s for showing up to class. You don’t get to start on the team just because you came to summer workouts. And success doesn’t come just because you do what is expected of you.
Everyone is expected to be to work on time. Everyone is expected to sacrifice on occasion. Everyone has lofty goals.
But not everyone achieves success. It’s the individuals that separate themselves from the pack that win the trophies.
Everyone thinks they’re special
Everyone is an amateur writer – blogs, an amateur photographer – Instagram, an amateur comedian – Twitter, and an amateur political buff – Facebook. The key phrase here being amateurs.
We’ve got a lot of professional amateurs. People that think they’re doing special work, but they’re just following the crowd. The only difference is they expect to be recognized and paid specially for their mediocrity.
Because we’ve grown up being told everything we do is great, we now expect to be patted on the back for standard protocol. That’s not why you get a pat on the back.
Pats on the back, congratulations, and hi-fives should not come to people doing their job competently (and they don’t in most places). Those types of recognition come with extra effort or exceptional performance.
Competent ≠ Recognition | Exceptional = Recognition
We are all special
…in our own way. Where people get confused is thinking they’re special in every way.
Just because you pick up a hobby, doesn’t mean you’re going to be good at it. Sure, it’s fun to dabble. But you’d never expect to become a pro beach volleyball players just because you beat Uncle Larry and your 12 year-old cousin at a family reunion.
Yet, we insist on thinking this way when it comes to our work.
If we’re all special, that put us all on the same playing field. Back here in reality, that’s called being average. We’re all average in most ways.
But we all have some sort of God-given talent that can separate us from the pack. For some, it’s physical talent. For others, it’s the ability to create (music, sculptures, businesses, etc.). Still for some, it’s our ability to make connections.
We all have something that makes us special. Personally, I don’t want to be special in every way. That’s way too much to handle.
In order to truly be special at something, you have to work for hours and days and years to to master that craft. I don’t have enough time to be great at everything. I’d rather put my eggs in a couple baskets that I enjoy and become the best I can be at those few things.
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How do you differentiate yourself from the crowd? What makes you special?
Leave me a comment or chat with me on Twitter, I’d love to hear from you. Have a great week!
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