Forty years ago, the goal of society was to make kids normal.
You attended school, completed extracurriculars, and attended college to build a resume.
The idea was to fit in with other people so that an employer could see you seamlessly merging with their culture.
You previously contributed years to an employer in the hope they’ll continue your employment with a chance to gain responsibilities.
They would use your work without your name.
That was four decades ago. Now it’s a facade. Resumes are more and more useless, displaced by projects— arguably a better metric of worker skill.
You are your work, not your resume.
Resumes can lie, exaggerate, and be next-to-impossible to verify with worker turnover.
But projects and work doesn’t lie.
“Normal” is broken because society has fundamentally changed.
A vanilla college degree and work experience doesn’t cut it anymore because everyone has it.
You have to stand out and do things that others won’t.
Try applying for a job without personal connections or a brand. You’ll end up applying without talking to an employee, and your resume will be buried under hundreds of others that won’t be read.
Normal isn’t enough.
Years later, You don’t remember ordinary people, OK food, or typical quality products.
You remember the extraordinary across all facets of life because people display preferences through spending time and money.
When you drop $50,000 on a Tesla Cybertruck, you’re buying more than a car. Most people think of Elon Musk, the future of driving, and autonomous driving.
Last week, Tesla out valued Toyota, the world’s most valuable automaker. The incredible part is the stats: Businessinsider writes that Tesla sold fewer than 300,000 vehicles in 2019 compared to Toyota’s about 11 million.
That’s not a standard valuation when you compare company age and ability.
It’s normal to work a job that’s unfulfilling, stay in poor financial and physical health, and to dive into six-figures debt in blind hopes of a better life on the other side of education.
It’s normal to let fear and finances restrict your opportunities to activate your real potential instead of staying average.
Work by definition is a reflection of your life, personality, and ambitions.
The only way to live a fulfilled life without regrets is to chase your goals without regard for society’s standards.
Life is too short to be normal. Leave your mark and influence others.