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“You do your thing and I’ll do mine.”
The statement implies that we will each do it a different way. Our own way.
The only thing missing is the notion of uniqueness. Is “our thing” really uniquely ours and no one else’s?
Are we truly the ONLY one who does it the way we do?
Or is it really YOU DO THEM in disguise?
This is an important question because we live in a world seeking popularity, to conform to the norms of the day.
To be politically correct, being careful to not step on the toes of someone else who seems to have more command of the narrative governing how one should behave than YOU.
The truth is, we rarely DO YOU! We may think we do, but we don’t.
We conform. We comply. We act according to a set of rules set by others. Heaven forbid we have an opinion that is different from “a marginalized” group in our society.
And when we do this we declare our individuality. This is fake! We’re not being individualistic, we’re being “herdaslistic”, joining everyone else who is afraid to break away from the shackles of conformance expectations.
It’s extremely important that YOU do YOU!
We need truly unique solutions to today’s challenges, not shrink wrapped boilerplates offered by custodians of popularity.
Here’s my playbook to DO YOU!
Play #1. Stop “Gargling Google”
Google is a great tool to discover someone else’s story. “How to” stories on how other people approach a problem and the solution THEY came up with are good learning sources.
But the problem is most people copy someone else’s story rather than discovering their own.
“Gargle and Swallow” Google is a DO THEM Move typical of a copycat. You become a member of the common denominator crowd.
“Gargle and Spit” Google, on the other hand, is a DO YOU! move.
You taste what others are doing, you suck every morsel of learning you can from their action, you decide on a different course of action and finally you Spit the Google play out.
Play #2. Put the textbook down
If everyone follows the same textbook rules and prescriptions, all that happens is the herd of sameness increases.
You won’t find your Special Sauce in a textbook; rather you will find the rules, algorithms, formulas and theories that everyone else uses.
Special Sauces come from stepping away from standard, “industry accepted” methods of doing things.
Special Sauces are the outcome of observing what the textbook says and doing something differently.
Play #3. Ignore Best in Class
Best in Class is a figment of some “expert’s” imagination. It’s a standard that someone with some level of academic credentials and presumed credibility says is the “right” thing to do.
Why on earth would you follow someone else’s prescription if you’re on the hunt to find the special YOU?
Crazy but most of the population does it.
I suggest you find someone or some organization who really sucks at something. Study them to discover how you might morph something they do to work for YOU!
Play #4. Avoid AI
And then there’s Artificial Intelligence which is being promulgated as the Magic Dust to solve the problems of the day.
Your clue to why I have several issues with AI is in the word “artificial”. Apart from the efficiency aspect of AI in the capability it has to process enormous amounts of data quickly, in the world of DOING YOU! AI is artificial in the sense that it relies on the opinions, work and results of others to produce an output that is nothing more than a super blend of the masses.
For example, if you want to write a blog post on “How to Develop a Brand Promise”, AI will create the post using information it gathers from sources on the internet by applying a predefined algorithm (written by someone who actually knows something about how to build a brand? Right? Probably not!).
The benefit: your post will be created quickly and expressed according to the language norms of the day (devoid of politically incorrect expressions and following basic English language protocol).
The drawback: the result will not be YOU! It will have ”rounded edges” of the many, not the Edges of YOU!
It will not offend anyone since the algorithm it uses is intended to avoid offending anyone. It will present no unique analysis or opinions; rather it will regurgitate a populace’s view of the topic.
To DO YOU! requires originality, audaciousness and creativity, not an artificial tool whose sole purpose is to aggregate common thought. AI is not the friend of YOU!
Play #5. Put your fingerprints on everything you do
Using any tool such as AI, crowdsourcing and population extrapolation is by definition YOU DOING THEM!
The only way YOU can do YOU! is to create something yourself, ONLY YOU!
So, look at what the population says and…
- Do something DiFFEREnt.
- Go against the flow.
- Do a “right angle turn” to the path others are on.
- Disrupt common opinion.
- Don’t put your hand up and agree with what the herd is doing. Keep your Jan down and go find something gasp-worthy.
- Put your own twist to popular stuff.
- Be audacious and outrageous.
- Ask “How can I do this differently?” when confronted with a new challenge.
We need YOU to do YOU!
There are too many people out there who DO THEM!
The crowd is unimaginative.
The crowd is dull and boring.
The crowd will never create anything.
The crowd sucks (good thing I don’t use AI otherwise “suck” would have been deleted as inappropriate… HeHe.)
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