Tip For The Week: Nov. 2 - 8
Whether we're watching TV, browsing the Internet, out at an event or maybe just in the confines of our immediate family or group of people whom we associate with, we're bound to find ourselves in a situation where we directly or indirectly show admiration for the success or story of another individual or group of individuals. These individuals may have found success in something that we have been working to attain or is an area of interest to us or maybe these individuals have a story pertaining to their life that we feel relates to the story of our own or these individuals may be someone whom we just genuinely respect. Whatever the case may be, we always find ourselves in the situation where that admiration leads to "I want to be like him/her when I grow up.", "If they can do that, I KNOW that I can do it too.", "I want what he/she has!", "I'm going to be the next _________", all of which are good in the sense that these statements show that you have a vision for what you want to attain in life, however they also show that you don't have a vision to blaze your own path. The B.U. Tip For the Week is "Admire, but don't Aspire."
If you take the time to think of anyone whom we may label as a success at what they do, the factor that they all have in common is that their success was not the result of the blueprint of what someone else created before them, but rather what they felt they needed to do in order to create their own blueprint, because they knew that they would not get to where they wanted to be by doing what someone else has already done. If you watch sports, you know that whatever an athlete did to win the MVP last year is not going to be what an athlete does to win the MVP this year. That athlete knows that in order to be the considered the best in their respective sport, they must take what has already been done and surpass it. If you are into technology, then you also know that the biggest name in technology today didn't receive that title by doing what the other companies were doing, but rather they created a blueprint for what they could do in order to surpass the other companies and in turn have those companies following their blueprint.
No medical breakthroughs or discoveries have come as a result of the doctor or group of doctors doing what their counterparts were doing, but rather what they saw their counterparts not doing and how they could capitalize on those missing links in the medical field. The most popular way of listening to music and anything that's audio today would have never happened if a music producer was content with just being another musical producer. Instead, he decided to apply his knowledge of producing and engineering to successfully change the way that we listened to music through headphones and speakers....something that no one thought to try before him, but many have unsuccessfully attempted to do after him. You may ask why has he been the only success story pertaining to headphones? The answer is simple. Because everyone after him followed the path that he set rather than making their own and surpassing his idea.
Whether it's a media mogul, a creator of a popular television show, a social media icon, an actor, actress, musical artist(s), doctor, teacher, lawyer, politician, entrepreneur, philanthropist, athlete/coach, architect, comedian, or any other profession or title, the most successful individuals in these fields and professions didn't attain their success by picking out the successful person in their field and aspiring to be like them, but rather telling themselves "I don't want to be like them, I want to be better. I will be better. I WILL BE THE BEST!" The most successful individuals knew that they would not be successful by doing what has already been done. The most successful individuals knew that if they followed the path that was set, they would not be labeled as the success that they wanted to be but rather a comparison to the indivudual whom was already there. The most successful individuals knew that the bar could be set much higher and setting the bar higher would be the only way that they would be the best.
When we look at these individuals on TV, read about them on the internet, watch them in concert or at a sporting event, or see them working a 9-5, we may admire what they do or look at them as a representation of success, but by no means should we aspire to be like them, because they are already successful at what they do and you should not want to put your time and effort into anything just to be compared to someone else in the end. They reached that success based on THEIR goals, THEIR visions, THEIR plans and THEIR work in order to get there. Your success should be based on your own goals, and visions and if you base it on yours rather than theirs, you should never end up on the same level as them but rather on a higher level because No One Can B.U. But You!
