Be Unique
“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
- Maya Angelou
Unique: Being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else.
I will always remember the first time I shook Bill Russell’s hand. He was my dad’s hero from his Boston Celtics days. Russell would win, a record, 11 NBA World Championship. So, by proxy, he became my hero.
The day I formally met Mr. Russell he was speaking to the team in Seattle. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. Bill sat on a stool on the stage in front of the team. His long legs were trying to get comfortable. His enormous hand held a water bottle. His piercing, bespectacled eyes searched the team room. No one had to quiet the normally boisterous audience. Just his presence silenced the room.
And then he spoke, “I am no different than any man in this room. Except maybe that I wasn’t satisfied with being the best. I wanted to be unique and so I set my standards so high that no one would ever match my accomplishments.”
A gospel from the Book of Greatness according to St. Bill.
WHAT? I could not conceive that Bill Russell and I could conceivably be the same. He was a legend in my household. Revered like few others. But he had just said he was “no different”. Okay he was 6’ 10” with an 88” wingspan. But there are a lot of big people who never played in the NBA or if they did, never were part of eleven NBA championships. Even the guys who are perceived to be the “greatest of all time” have never won that many championships.
I thought about this revelation. Eventually it began to make sense. Being “unique” isn’t about genetics - or talent - or skill - or environment - or race - or religion - or gender … being unique is about US … getting the fuck out of our own way. Once we stop making excuses for our shortcomings, lack of effort or self-imposed limits we can ALL become unique.
Do you need more proof that anyone can become “unique”? Let me introduce you to two guys.
Two Guys
The first guy is Eddie. He’s a beekeeper from New Zealand. The second guy is Tenzing. Tenzing is a baggage handler from Nepal.
Two rather innocuous, run of the mill, professions. If you met Eddie and Tenzing you might come away scratching your head, wondering how these two guys fit in a blog about being “Unique”. Bees have been making honey long before mankind crawled out of the muck and mire and people have always had baggage?
The difference between them and others in their professions was that they had goals that were bigger than most people who did their jobs.
Eddie and Tenzing met in Nepal. On a walk. On the way to the top of Mount Everest.
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were part of an expedition to be the first to climb the highest point on earth. After several attempts their group decided, it just wasn’t going to happen.
This is what made Hillary and Norgay unique. They did not let the opinions of others, nor the freezing cold, or the lack of oxygen stop them from climbing into the annals of history.
It would have been easy to be “normal” and walk away. But they were driven. They would not be stopped. At 11:30 am on May 29th, 1953 the beekeeper and the baggage handler did what no one had done before. They climbed to the top of Mount Everest. Thousands have done it since. But only Hillary and Norgay have the unique title of being: “The First”.
Too many people let “life” get in their way. They are content with making excuses of why they had to turn back. Hillary could have lived a nice quiet life as a beekeeper and Tenzing could have lived comfortably working at a hotel in the city. But then they would not have lived their optimal life! Instead, they were unique and pushed through when things got hard.
What is Your Everest?
Hillary and Norgay’s “vehicle” to being “unique” may be different than yours. But, as Bill Russell said, “I am no different …”. These three men made themselves unique because they would not allow anything or anybody to get in their way, especially not themselves.
What is your Everest? What is your greatest dream? How many goals are you away from becoming unique?
Maybe you have already completed your greatest dream. I did. I became the only coach to win championships at the four levels of American football (High School – Junior College – College – NFL). After I achieved my dreams, I didn’t stop there. I moved on to my “next” Everest.
What are you waiting for? Why are you not living your optimal life? Why are you not unique in accomplishing your greatest dreams?
99% of the time it’s because we have become “stuck” in our present professions and buy into the concept that I don’t have the time to live my optimal life and become the best at what I always wanted to do.
Getting UnStuck
I have proclaimed this before: There are 86,400 seconds in each of our days. The key is to maximize each of those seconds. We can all live our optimal life if we get out of our own way and just do what we are meant to do.
Here are some ways that you can get UnStuck and on your path up the mountain:
· Volunteer: Everyone loves free labor. If you go to your passion (dream job) and offer to volunteer for nothing more than the experience you will find that you will be gladly brought into the lowest position of the profession.
· Education: If you don’t have the academic background to move up in your dream profession then start taking classes online or at night. If this is truly your passion you will find the time and apply for the grants in aid that will help you pay for this advanced education.
· Ask Stupid Question: Go to people who are doing what you want to do and ask them questions about how they got to where they are at. I was named the National Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year without ever taking a class in kinesiology or physiology. I learned all I would ever need to know by going to the smartest people in the profession and asking “stupid” questions
· Take a Low Job: You might need to change your economic standing by stepping back into an entry level position. To get into the profession you will need to start at the bottom. Tough it out, until you advance in the profession far enough that you begin to make the same amount of pay. But if this is your passion then you won’t mind.
· Open Your Own Business: If you are an aspiring chef you might want to invest in a food truck. This way you can work when you can. (Using all of your 86,400 seconds.) While you are working people are getting to know your food and your unique talents in the kitchen. If you are as good as you think you are, someone will find you and will partner with you to open your own restaurant. This isn’t just being a chef. You can do this as a mechanic, a professional in the hair and beauty area, a personal trainer. Get certified and be your own boss.
These are just a few ways that you can start on the path of being unique. You can do it if you want to. But first you will have to get out of your own way. Second, you will need to fight through the hard times.
All the greats had to suffer and scrape through hard times on their way to becoming the best at what they did. Are you willing to be unique or are you going to be too busy making excuses of why you lived a mundane life, working for other people’s dreams?
Move or Die, it’s up to you.
Have an amazing day!
