If You Want To Attain Success, Try To Be Different

If You Want To Attain Success, Try To Be Different

Do you know how lemmings behave? They move in groups; they follow the pack.

Don’t you feel that people are like lemmings? Many stay at the sideline waiting for brave souls to go in first. If they smell success, they jump in and join. Many wanted only to follow the direction that the crowd takes, rather than dare to trek the road less traveled.

Successful people are usually the first in the field. They are not crowd followers but crowd leaders. By the time other people join in the ship, these crowd leaders have either become leaders of the field or have moved on to different pursuits.

Being the first in the field, many successful people employ unorthodox, eccentric, unconventional ways and ‘out of the ordinary’ actions. Their actions are often times hailed as innovative and creative, for they were the first to think about them. These people are so determined to make it to the top that they push themselves to think out of the box to address seemingly insurmountable difficulties so that they may be able to overcome obstacles.

You need not always be conventional. It is okay to try out uncommon approaches to solve a problem as long as these are within legal, moral and ethical rules, and as long as no one gets hurt in the process. Oftentimes, people judge pioneers harshly; other people perceive them as going nuts and losing their marbles for pursuing a different approach.

Remember the story about Noah’s Ark? A man named Noah heeded God’s call to build a boat in preparation for the forthcoming great flood. Everybody laughed at Noah. They think he was nuts. Noah may be nuts but the boat he and his family built saved their lives and animals from the great flood.

The same thing is true when it comes to the attainment of your goal. If you want to achieve success in life, try to be different. When was the last time you acted differently in pursuit of something you want? At times, it may be true that problems require unconventional solutions. Would you hesitate to be unconventional for fear of being an object of ridicule, even if your goal to success is on the line? The answer lies within you.

Success comes to those who are daring and willing to take calculated risks. A word of clarification regarding risk takers: we are NOT referring to those who do bungee jumping, jumping out of airplanes, daredevil maneuvers, etc.

Successful people take CALCULATED risks as they pursue different approaches. They have gone through all the choices and painstakingly studied all details before deciding on the best option. Decisions are not based on tossed coins, for this is not a game of heads or tails.

If you will analyze it, acting unconventionally requires more brain activity than just going with the trend. For one, you have to scrutinize all possible alternatives, whereas merely following is just like copying what the others have previously done. Less mental activity is required when you just follow others.

So, how do you assess yourself? Are you a lemming or a risk taker? Do you follow the crowd or dare to be different? Do you take the conventional path or the road less traveled?