How do you survive?
How do you live instead of making a living in an oversaturated, high-volume world built on uninterrupted interruption?
If the answer is simple, the execution is not.
Survival in the here and now isn’t about value. It’s about distinction, because distinction drives value.
In a market with high demand and limited supply, everyone has distinction. But in a market where supply is extensive, distinction is put out to pasture, and nearly everyone becomes part of the hungry, massive middle. And the massive middle is exactly where businesses go to die.
Strategist Blair Enns says, “It is expertise and expertise alone that will…allow us to deal with our clients and prospects from a position of power.”
But the expert isn’t the person who knows more, shoots better, or wins the most awards. The expert is the person who dominates a field, and there are two ways to become that person. You either ascend a vast ladder through a large, established, and capable field. Or you invent your own.
That’s the power of difference. It eliminates competition.
Robert Frost’s famous description:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
But it’s only a start.
Because the real problem we face isn’t that we choose the wrong fork in the road. It’s that we don’t even realize the forks are there. We travel down a chute in constant motion blinded by the rest of the herd, unable to see the choices we make and the strengths we have all in the name of comfort and security.
You have to find the fork. You have to be willing to access your own potential.
Difference is hard. It feels like a nagging uncertainty crossed with an unwavering commitment to the unknown, but this is the path of the explorer. Every step you take out of the chute is an act of self-determination and ownership.
How do you find difference?
You let go of good. Good sucks. Good is what everyone does. Let yourself get tired of you and tear the walls down. Don’t be one of the cool kids. And be ready to fail. Fear isn’t the end of you. It’s the beginning.
There is no phrase worse than failure is not an option, because if you want to step up and be something, failure isn’t only an option, it’s a necessity. Throw out the rules, and start failing. Shoot the shots you’re not supposed to shoot, and find a way to make them work. Keep at it. Don’t stop.
That’s how you dominate a space in the world.
Creativity is not the repetition of the same. It is the discovery of difference.
For most of my life, I have focused on climbing the ladder, waiting to make it to the top. But what I forgot to ask along the way was whether that was a ladder I should even climb. The ladder is crowded and full and ready to fall. Find the courage and curiosity to see that everything is a fork in the road, then step into it.
Leave a comment, and let me know what you think. Next time, I’ll talk about one of the biggest pitfalls of difference.
Thank you, thank you… the timing of your thoughts is amazing… in the midst of big transitions, I am grateful to read today especially that fear is the beginning. “Shoot the shots you’re not supposed to shoot, and find a way to make them work. Keep at it. Don’t stop.”–I am writing this in my journal and probably tearing out the page and taping it to my door so I see it every time I head out. Thank you for your fire and soul.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Liz!!!
Very interesting essay about what happens when you follow the herd…you wind up at the meat packing plant instead of greener pastures! This is especially true of photography in this day and age.
You have to ask yourself all the time is this where I want to be…like all the rest and going nowhere?
I’m looking forward to reading the next installment in this series!
Great way to put it, John – yes! Thanks for sharing that!
Have you given any thought at all with translating your current web-site into French? I know a couple of of translaters right here that might help you do it for free if you want to make contact with me.
That usually amazes me the way website owners like one’s self can buy the right time and also the deal with continue generating high-quality content and articles. Your site isterrific and for the should really check out websites. I only planned to thank you
Thank you! I totally agree and think you are eminently quotable: “Sometimes I think that God gives us children so that we ourselves will finally grow up.” chuckle. As far as living ‘backward,’ just a couple of days ago I was reading in Psalms and came across… “Teach me to number my days aright, so that I may gain a heart of wisdom.” Changes our perspective.
This is the straight PS Vita gets second firmware update, nixes software bugs | My Blog diary for anyone who wants to attempt out out roughly this message. You asking so some its virtually debilitating to debate with you (not that I really would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new twist on a subject thats been scrivened virtually for geezerhood. Precise matter, just enthusiastic!
Spencer, I’m not capable to describe with words how much you’ve been helping me. The unexplored paths are always dark, cold, lonely and dangerous. You’re the tinny light that I can see far away on the horizon that becomes brighter and warmer every step I make. Thanks for putting so much of your heart into this!
Thank you. Really. Thank you.
Last year I shot a concert and I remember exploring the venue like crazy. At some point I got myself thinking I took risks in going out of my then comfort zone. It is still one of my best photo sets of that era. Then last week something similar but different happened. I shot another concert, didn’t explore that much but I got some really different shots. I mean, ones that weren’t the usual me. Bang. Another one that goes straight up to the top my favourite sets. I shot less, but differently. And it seems it makes all the different.
Today I read this post. It seems something was right in going out of the comfort zone, in doing things differently. I believe it resonates with what you said.
So, once again, thank you.