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How to be remarkable

Written by: Seth Godin

Article Overview: From this week's Guardian: 1. Understand the urgency of the situation. Half-measures simply won't do. The only way to grow is to abandon your strategy of doing what you did yesterday, but better. Commit.

How to be remarkable

From this week's Guardian:

1. Understand the urgency of the situation. Half-measures simply won't do. The only way to grow is to abandon your strategy of doing what you did yesterday, but better. Commit.

2. Remarkable doesn't mean remarkable to you. It means remarkable to me. Am I going to make a remark about it? If not, then you're average, and average is for losers.

3. Being noticed is not the same as being remarkable. Running down the street naked will get you noticed, but it won't accomplish much. It's easy to pull off a stunt, but not useful.

4. Extremism in the pursuit of remarkability is no sin. In fact, it's practically a requirement. People in first place, those considered the best in the world, these are the folks that get what they want. Rock stars have groupies because they're stars, not because they're good looking.

5. Remarkability lies in the edges. The biggest, fastest, slowest, richest, easiest, most difficult. It doesn't always matter which edge, more that you're at (or beyond) the edge.

6. Not everyone appreciates your efforts to be remarkable. In fact, most people don't. So what? Most people are ostriches, heads in the sand, unable to help you anyway. Your goal isn't to please everyone. Your goal is to please those that actually speak up, spread the word, buy new things or hire the talented.

7. If it's in a manual, if it's the accepted wisdom, if you can find it in a Dummies book, then guess what? It's boring, not remarkable. Part of what it takes to do something remarkable is to do something first and best. Roger Bannister was remarkable. The next guy, the guy who broke Bannister's record wasn't. He was just faster ... but it doesn't matter.

8. It's not really as frightening as it seems. They keep the masses in line by threatening them (us) with all manner of horrible outcomes if we dare to step out of line. But who loses their jobs at the mass layoffs? Who has trouble finding a new gig? Not the remarkable minority, that's for sure.

9. If you put it on a T-shirt, would people wear it? No use being remarkable at something that people don't care about. Not ALL people, mind you, just a few. A few people insanely focused on what you do is far far better than thousands of people who might be mildly interested, right?

10. What's fashionable soon becomes unfashionable. While you might be remarkable for a time, if you don't reinvest and reinvent, you won't be for long. Instead of resting on your laurels, you must commit to being remarkable again quite soon.

Related Articles
  Be Remarkable!
  Are You Remarkable Enough?
  Leadership fails without management
  How to be a millionaire
  Being remarkable - how to have an extraordinary business

Article Tags: dummies book, edge 6, extremism, gig, guardian, half measures, jobs, losers, mass layoffs, rock stars, roger bannister, urgency, wisdom



Related Forum Posts
Re: Startup blogs - It's a valid point you raise Molly, but I am a small company and we don't have the resources for this. If we do then it will be at the expense of our products which is not what I want. I think it was Seth Godin who said that we should build marketing into our products i.e. make something remarkable that markets itself. I do agree with you to a point, but only if you are a company with the resources to do this.
Re: Quote of the Day - John Johnson - Hi Evan, Thanks for the link; I love Johnson’s quotes and his attitude to life in general. The fact that he started to make his millions during a time when it was really tough for African Americans to succeed makes his story even more remarkable. I particularly like his attitude to retirement as he kept working right up until his death and I happen to believe that retirement is a matter of choice if possible and not compulsory but unfortunately most people don’t get that chance. regards, Mal.
Re: Do you have an affinity to making money??? - Hi ideasuniversity, I think we all enjoy making money and hopefully using it wisely, LOL. It is interesting to see that you are getting involved with Aloe Vera products as these seem to have remarkable advantages for health and wellbeing for many people. I almost became involved here a few years back with a company which was called something like Forever Living products who seemed to be very active but ultimately I didn’t follow it up but I can understand your enthusiasm for the products as you can get anything from Aloe Vera toothpaste up over, the range of products is incredible, best of luck with your efforts, regards, Mal.
Re: 3,000 Congrats to GT! - Hi GT, I’ve just popped in for my daily fix and noticed your fantastic milestone. That’s a brilliant effort and what makes it more remarkable is the quality of your posts. There are some forums where lots of members make lots of posts but rarely have anything interesting to say and there are other forums where members hardly ever post but when they do, it’s worth reading. I think at this forum we have a good mix of members who always try to ad something to a post and you have that rare ability of making all your posts interesting and the quality is not diluted by the quantity, I look forward to your next 3,000. well done, Mal.
Re: Burn all your bridges inorder to succeed?? - I hear what you are saying, Kevin. In other words, sometimes "creating the need" is exactly what gets us moving! I think it can work when you know you are ready and you BELIEVE you can. However, I believe it's not the only route. One way is to "create a need" without having to burn the bridge. If you are working full time, you can make "small needs" which cause you to grow at the pace you want to. For example, if someone is struggling to write a book, they might arrange a spread out series of speaking engagements on the topic of the book. The time commitment requires them to get writing the speech for each date. Then they can simply translate the speech to the book. So, how can you create a "small need" in your current entrepreneurial endeavour? This is when a Coach comes in handy as you clarify what you want and create an accountability plan to help you stay true to what you want. That's why so many business people and corporations pay for Coaching. The return on investment can be quite remarkable! Have fun thinking of ideas! Tami


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