Table of contents
Introduction
Chapter One
Question Everything and
Find a Better Way
To Do Anything
Chapter Two
What Do You Want Most?
Chapter Three
Be Nice No Matter What
Chapter Four
It’s The Tough
Things That Teach You
Chapter Five
If You Don’t Like
What You’re Doing, So What?
Chapter Six
Seek Improvement Everywhere
and In All Things
Chapter Seven
Stand Out From The Crowd
Chapter Eight
Take People With
You On Your Journey
Chapter Nine
Work-Life Balance
Chapter Ten
If You’re Going To Do Anything,
Do It All The Way
Chapter Eleven
Give Back To Everyone You Can
Chapter Twelve
Heal Yourself With Your Mind
Conclusion
Chapter Seven
Stand Out From The Crowd
Stand out from the crowd by finding a different way to do things. In Chapter 1, I discussed the need to recruit employees to my company. The results weren’t there when I mindlessly placed ads that looked just like everybody else’s. But when I completely changed my ad to stand out from the crowd, it brought immense results. I’m not trying to say that you should always be doing something different from everyone else, but I would ask you, my children, grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren, to be intentional. It’s okay to go along with the crowd if you’ve looked at it and thought about it, and it makes sense.
In my lifetime, I’ve participated in some swimming events. It’s been found that swimmers who swim in a row create a wake and swim so much faster, following one behind the other. Even if that group took a longer journey to get from point A to point B, if you took a direct line to swim, it would take you longer because you don’t have the wake to swim in. So even though the path is shorter, it could take you just as long or longer to get there. So, be intentional with your decision-making when it comes to the crowd. Take a look at what everyone else is doing. Instead of just doing it, ask questions. Take a look at the easy path, and if that’s where everyone is going and you want to go that way, then go. But don’t just follow them without asking yourself if that is the best way for you. You aren’t like most of them—and I say that with confidence because you have learned to look and think. You have learned what is called “critical thinking,” the kind of thinking in which you question, analyze, and evaluate to make a judgment about what you read, hear, or experience. As a reminder from Pop, good critical thinking doesn’t mean being negative or focusing on faults. It means clarifying your thinking so that you can make better-informed decisions. Science says that no one is born with these skills—they are learned and improved with practice. So, keep practicing and learn to have a critical thinking mindset.
Perhaps all your friends want to attend the same college. You want to join them, but maybe it’s not the best college for you, your future, or your path. Whether to follow your buddy or not is a question I hope you will always be asking yourself, and it’s a metaphor for many different things related to getting from point A to point B.
When I’m in the airport, I’ve noticed that most people take the escalator up or down rather than the stairs. I find the stairs are usually faster. As my kids know, I always make sure it’s faster. Considering how much money I have spent over the years on fitness and health, why would I stand still on the escalator when I can walk down the stairs? Why is everyone rolling their suitcases when we used to carry them? I sometimes carry my suitcase up or down the stairs because I’m exercising at the same time. I think my way is better.
When you go to school, and everyone’s wearing the same brand of clothing, ask yourself, Do I want to dress like everyone else? And know that it’s perfectly okay to dress like everyone else. If you want to fit in, that’s normal. But if you want to dress just like them, I want you to be intentional about it. Look at what they’re wearing, and wear basically the same thing, but maybe try to look a little bit nicer—fix your hair, make sure you’re ready for your day, and if you have to wear a baseball cap, wear it straight. I don’t know what straight means to you because I’m older, and straight just simply means facing forward, but for you, maybe it’s backward.
At the time of writing this book, mustaches weren’t considered fashionable, but I’ve just learned that younger men are trying to bring them back into fashion. At my age, a mustache is still not in fashion. So you might think, Well, then Pop must be wearing a mustache. But in this case, I’ve thought about it, and standing out from the crowd by wearing a mustache isn’t what I want to do—so I am intentionally following the crowd by not wearing a mustache. I often have a beard, which, unfortunately, is 60 to 70 percent gray, but that’s okay because I look my age.
For me, standing out from the crowd might include dressing up differently than others. For instance, I’ve gone to marketing meetings and events where I tried to stand out from the crowd by the way I dress. As far as you are concerned, my children and grandchildren, I think you already stand out from the crowd.
Look at what others are doing and ask yourself if that’s really the best way to do it. Often, you will discover it’s not. It’s not because you’re trying to be right or to prove someone wrong. You’re simply looking for a different and better way to think about something. I know in my business, every time I think we’ve got something exactly right, it turns out there’s a better way. We must keep looking and asking questions until we find our new, better way.
Table of contents
Introduction
Chapter One
Question Everything and
Find a Better Way
To Do Anything
Chapter Two
What Do You Want Most?
Chapter Three
Be Nice No Matter What
Chapter Four
It’s The Tough
Things That Teach You
Chapter Five
If You Don’t Like
What You’re Doing, So What?
Chapter Six
Seek Improvement Everywhere
and In All Things
Chapter Seven
Stand Out From The Crowd
Chapter Eight
Take People With
You On Your Journey
Chapter Nine
Work-Life Balance
Chapter Ten
If You’re Going To Do Anything,
Do It All The Way
Chapter Eleven
Give Back To Everyone You Can
Chapter Twelve
Heal Yourself With Your Mind
Conclusion