How can you stand out?

I keep preaching the idea of "controlling the controllable". The idea is that you can't control what happens to the economy, your company or political climate, but you have some agency over how you show up in the world. 

There will be many situations, however, that you'll need to put your best foot forward in order to navigate some of the uncontrollable factors. You may find yourself having to reapply for your current job as your company goes through a restructuring. You may be forced back into the jobs market as a recession takes hold. You may be trying to woo a partner that is already attracting plenty of suitors. 

You still don't have ultimate control over how things will pan out. But you do have more of a say in how you represent yourself. 

This got me thinking earlier about how I've managed to advance over the years in my career. I would never say that I'm the most technically competent finance individual, nor the best salesman. But I've done pretty well for myself. And I realize the reason for that is I've managed to not only play to my personal strengths (flexibility, affability), I've also found ways in which to offer something that rivals haven't. 

One example of that was my first banking role. It was an admin assistant role in a corporate unit and only one rung up from having to make the teas for the team. I wasn't a fresh-faced 18-year old. I came into the position as a university graduate. It wasn't the type of role graduates were looking for back then. They would traditionally be entering via fast-track graduate schemes, or at the very least coming in at a more advanced position. Not many of the team were graduates either but they were happy to welcome a keen, smart kid who would take the crappy work off their plate. That got my foot in the door and I've not looked back.

Over the years I've found ways to stick out in my role search (the only Brit competing for a position in Asia that ultimately suited someone with a European background; one of the few people of an ethnic minority background applying for a role aligned with that ethnicity's part of the world). Sometimes I've been conscious about it, sometimes I've stuck out without realizing it. And thanks to the power of compounding these experiences, it's got me to where I am now.  

I don't think there's a magic formula here. I was extremely lucky in many situations (though I embraced the luck as well). But if you find yourself having to compete with others for roles, it makes a lot of sense to find ways in which to stick out to make you the more obvious choice. Or find situations where there's little to no competition in the first place.

The "law" is an ass

I'm a massive fan of personal development. I embrace the growth vibe that it encompasses. At the same time, I'm fully cognizant of the importance of self-acceptance. Accept who you are, warts and all.

On the surface, there's a conflict. Try to be more than who you currently are but accept that there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. Actually, I see this as a healthy tension. If you focus only on the personal growth angle of more, more, more then you'll never be happy. If you get fully lost in only accepting your lot and the world around you, you miss the opportunity to lift yourself out of hardships.

Combining the two means that you accept the core of who you are, while realizing there's so much more to you than you're revealing. To me, that's a healthy place to be. Try to have a better understanding of the bigger picture rather than just a silo.

As I keep thinking throughout these blog posts, we live in a world of stories and n ot "the truth". Malcolm Gladwell tells a story. Freakonomics tells a story. The Undercover Economist tells a story. They could all be explaining the cause of the exact same situation but with different conclusions. We live through stories and liberal explanations, even more so when social sciences shape our understanding.

Commentators keep using the term "laws" to explain how some things work in our existence, as if they are irrefutable mechanisms within the universe. When such laws are based on physics, maybe there's some proper scientific underpinning. It can be tested. There's some rigor. 

But when you apply "laws" to something which should be loosely termed "rules", you do diminish it. The Law of Gravity has more depth than the Law of Attraction. Don't get me wrong, I'm into the Law of Attraction. I've read The Secret and seen the movie, and I try to live the principle. And I definitely see the value. But do I, hand on heart, believe that it works in equal measure for the 7.9 billion people around the world? No. Do I think the Law of Gravity applies evenly? Well, yes.

We can't take everything at face value. Keep observing. Keep growing a bigger picture. Challenge your thinking. Be curious. That's what I want to do.

Represent

“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”  – Epictetus.

One of my biggest weaknesses is being smart. I do say that half in jest, but I've always been a thinker. Pseudo-intellectual, if you will. The trouble with that has been I've been excellent at conceptualizing and horrible at execution. Absolutely dreadful.

I've got so caught up with proving how right I am, how clever my thought process is, how mind-blowing my insights are, I haven't got close to following through on a lot of things.

At the route of it is a combination of a lack of focus and fear. Sometimes my thoughts are so diffused I get lost in the layers of thinking (and that's something I'm finding in writing these blog posts recently). 

But at the crux is a lowish tolerance to failure. It has to be perfect or not at all. The fact that I know all this means that I'm looking at different ways in which to drive action. (I'm also well aware that by talking about it all now, I'm very subtly procrastinating that bit more).

So I'm going to look to practice what I preach. Be more dynamic. Represent an ideal. Embody it, as the quote above says. Live by the principle of Be-Do-Have.

Ok, I've been here before. I just need to keep reminding myself what I'm trying to achieve. Personal and financial freedom.

So time to do things bit by bit. Iterate. And learn along the way.

The world is, well, challenged...but...

The world is going to hell on a handbasket. Or at least that's what we're told on a daily basis by the media.

I have no doubt that things will be challenging. Zero-interest rates for so long finally have a cost, a pandemic that disrupted industries and social structures alike, an uncalled-for war in Ukraine, energy prices hitting crazy levels. I could go on.

The truth is, none of us knows how this is going to play out. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. We live in the world of narratives. The same story gets played out through different lenses. We all live a version of the Rashomon effect - one storyline played out through multiple viewpoints. It really does depend on which ones you expose yourself to and which ones to run with.

But this is not the tine to sit back, eat the popcorn and watch things play out. You really don't want to leave things to chance. You don't want to be ill-prepared for what's playing out in front of you. 2008 proved that. You need to shape the narrative. Your narrative. That means not relying on your job, the government, or whoever. 

This isn't some conspiratorial prepping vibe. It's far more pragmatic than that. The world owes you nothing so you have to control what you can. Stay nimble. Get skilled. Take the initiative. 

If only it was so easy

Part of my problem is that I overcomplicate things. I have so many amazing/excellent/inspirational...(fill in the gaps) ideas that I simply don't know where to start.

Am I alone? No. We all manage to find ways in which to get in our own way. 

And during those times of overwhelm, very often we know what we should be doing. Sometimes our head is telling us. Sometimes it's our heart. Sometimes the gut. Regardless, we know.

But we just to live in our thoughts rather than to do anything about it. That's the "knowing-doing gap". We know exactly what we should be doing (or at least have a fair idea), but we choose to overcomplicate, overthink, procrastinate.

The key (of course) is action. Deep down, we know that. It doesn't have to be massive, life-changing moves. At least, not normally. Just putting one foot in front of the other is what counts. 

And to do that, to eat that elephant one bite at a time, we need to trust. 

Trust that we are on the right path. Trust that our gut feelings are correct. Trust, fundamentally, that if we are not on the right path or are gut feelings are wrong that we will be okay. That's the key reframe.

None of us knows truly what the future will bring. How can we? (Futurists, tarot card readers, stock market strategists take note). All we can do is work on ourselves and our worlds in order to better our environments for what might come tomorrow. To work towards something.

We don't have to beat ourselves up about having too many ideas. We just simply need to experiment. To play. To explore. Keep observing and keep iterating.