Courageous Individuality

Thank goodness this isn’t the norm today but this was true for girls of my generation. It used to be, if you asked an 11-year-old preteen what she wanted on her pizza, she decisively said, pepperoni. But ask her just four years later at 15 and she’d be more inclined to respond. “Oh I don’t know, what do you want?”

Cultural pressure to fit in is a powerful conditioner that affects all of us.

It’s takes a lot of courage to stand tall, speak up and boldly act as an individual.

But expressing as an individual is your only chance if you want to create an authentic business with sustainable prosperity and fulfillment. Conformity is not a selling point. Being average is dull.

Yet the truth is, it’s far easier to just go along with the crowd and follow a system created by someone else, than it is to boldly and authentically speak your mind.

So what. Who said easy and comfortable wins? Hyped up marketers pitching systems tell lies of easy money and big riches. If it sounds too good to be true it’s not either right? So why do we fall for those lies?

I know why. We fall for them because it’s safer not to stand out. It’s safer to hide behind someone else’s creation than to expose our own vulnerable individuality.

But these, more and more often, systems are collapsing and remarkable individuals are succeeding.

Money is attracted to confidence and I think it might be time for all of us to take a look at the path less followed.

What if your greatest potential source of confidence was your expressed individuality?

What if your greatest way to make more money was also your greatest way to make a difference?

Spiritually evolved communities have been announcing a new age of consciousness for years now. It seems to me that we are willing to lend our financial and emotional support to those who create authentically.

I hope you can see that this is your time to serve humanity through individual expression. I’ve realized that a true calling can be started in a much smaller way than I’d originally recommended. To follow your calling you can take the big leap off the cliff or barely stick your toe in the water.

In fact a more prudent entry point for many could be starting smaller. That’s why I’ve been creating a product that combines the three most powerful concepts I have experience of.

1). The Supportive Accountability of Coaching

2). The Authentic Aliveness of True Calling

3). The Inspired Productivity of Completion

 

You can’t save the day by sitting on the sidelines. I hope you agree that it’s your time to push all of your chips to the center of the table and bet big on your individuality.

 

Comments

  1. Hi Tom, I entirely agree about our authenticity and not just fitting in.

    I also think that we need to have a product that is understood and whose value is communicated.

    I won’t be on the call but am sure it will be great. I think I’m on your mailing list. Looking forward to the new product.
    .-= Evan´s last blog ..Art and Craft =-.

  2. Tom,

    I’ve followed what you’ve had to say for quite some time and I’m impressed with you honesty and tenacity. I’ve reached a point where I feel like I have no other option but to create an Authentic Business. I’ve marveled for years over the companies that are based on love and respect and are profiting because of their higher purpose. Unfortunately, I’ve also tried to play it safe by working at more traditional companies only to find that they are built on fear as the primary source of motivation. I don’t feel like I can take it any longer, yet I’m intimidated because of my current lack of financial resources. I’d like to get the phone information to see if I can be on the call tomorrow. I assume that I’ll find it in one of your mailings in my Inbox. Many thanks for your energy.

  3. Evan – As always I’m grateful for your interest and support. I agree, without clearly pointing out the product benefits we have not earned the right to the sale.

    Paul – The point of no return is one option for sure. I’ve always blown up the [previous opportunity so I’ve had no choice but to buckle down and make the new one work. Playing it safe just doesn’t do anything for your for humanity. Yes the lack of money can be challenging but without clearly expressing who we are we have nothing anyway. You can register for the call here.
    http://pittsburghcoaches.org/teleclass_registration.htm

  4. Tom,
    I’m certainly with you on your statement that “this is the time to serve humanity through individual expression”. Clearly as a culture we are moving past the belief that you must take a J-O-B and work 8 to late for at least 50 weeks a year in order to recieve 2 weeks of vacation. I cannot imagine adhering to that system willingly when it is so possible to create income doing work you love to do! I look forward to the teleclass.

    Dee

  5. Chris Edgar says

    Hi Tom — thanks for this — it’s in keeping with the way I’ve been thinking lately. I finally made the decision recently to launch another blog that takes a sort of meta-view of personal development and some of the popular debates around it. It brings who I am more fully into my writing by unveiling my pointy-headed intellectual side a bit more than my other blog, even though it doesn’t relate as much to my coaching. I’m feeling pretty energized about it and ideally it will be a platform for a new book.

  6. Dee – Welcome. You hit it right. That’s why I call employment modern day slavery. It’s totally unnatural to be told what to do, when, with whom. You and I and need to be the liberators by sharing what’s possible.

    Chris – That’s great man. be sure to let me know when it’s up. We all need more projects that bring us alive. Keep following that enthusiasm. There are enough of us evolving to get your pointy-headed philosophy. I salute your intellectualism.

  7. hi tom. I am a political-Philosophy major in an Asian University and I believe that employment is a necessary evil for a nation to progress. However, that evil can never be taken out of our society for it basically lets people help the society at the end of the day. if we do not want class struggle and/or “slavery” then we better shift to socialism and leave the democracy behind (which essentially caters to capitalism that leads to slavery).

  8. Peter – You raise an interesting point. Sure I think employment is a lousy option that doesn’t offer much room for freedom and autonomy. Necessary? I’m not so sure. I do know that we will never have to find out because there will always be folks on the low end of the spectrum that must work for others to survive. Yet many earlier societies were able to prosper with various tradesmen and craftsmen trading good and services where more folks were self-employed. In our current society we can do better and inspire lots more folks to own their own businesses.

  9. Hey Tom…after reading your column about Courageous Individuality I realized, I’ve always had a tremendous passion that, like a volcano, needed to be released. After our discussion and some reading I think I have my first realization.
    I have a gift that God did not intend I keep for myself that my passions aren’t needing released, as if discarded. My passions are looking to be shared with the world. I’ve always known that my purpose was to serve humanity.
    My second realization, was Individual Expression. To serve humanity through individual expression. Not like a worker bee, one at a time. Not from the outside looking in but from the inside looking out.
    I start my journey with you and this, my new mantra;
    “My individual expression is my passion…that must serve
    all of humanity!” A big Enthusiastic Thank You!!! Sandy

  10. Sandy – Welcome! That’s beautiful. Thank you for sharing it. You’ve proven that we can act more boldly once we have clarity and inspiration. Go forth and make it happen and be sure to return here and tell us how it’s going for you.

  11. Great post Tom. I like your example of the girl and the pizza. If a stranger or someone I didn’t know too well asked me what I wanted on my pizza, I would also respond with something like, “Uh… what do you want?” But if my family asks me what I want, I’ll respond with, “Pepperoni and sausages.”

    In business though, everybody is a stranger, and you’re not going to be as direct or opinionated as you are with your family. That’s why I agree with you we shouldn’t go with what everything thinks is right, but should express our own individual views, even if they are different.
    .-= Hulbert´s last blog ..Jay Leno and Nice =-.

  12. Tom- You are so on target! The best thing I ever did was create a product that is totally me! I LOVE what I am doing and it is going so well. We are totally book until the the state science testing April 30. We are expanding for next year by creating another canyon so we will be running 2 canyons and one earth. I am writing another science curriculum book, this time for 5th grade stations. I am sending a proposal to an education publisher this week. I have never felt so on target myself. I feel alive and am making a difference! I am very blessed…… I wish you could see our program! You would love it!

  13. We are all so different. For some, serving means to be second in charge, not the boss. And entrepreneurs can often get so overwhelmed that they need help to provide what it is they provide.

    So I don’t see dismissing the role of employee as nonessential. Many jobs call for creative thinking and strategizing — involving courage and individuality.

    What I do see though, is more entrepreneurship thriving in a society that allows it and doesn’t tax it to death. I think that’s just plain exciting!

    If I were to work for someone, I’d want him/her to hire me for my creativity, and then give me wide berth in expressing it.

    About the pizza — I’m easy to get along with. But given my druthers, I’ll take mushrooms and green peppers and pepperoni and extra cheese. Mmmmmm……
    .-= Barb Hartsook´s last blog ..Learning Changes Us… or Does It? =-.

  14. Hulbert – Yes being distinct is key so we all must do exactly the opposite of conformity. Stand out to serve is my motto. Otherwise we just fade away in a sea of mediocrity.

    Laurie – You continue to be the poster child for creating a business that is exactly what you want and need to thrive within. You are doing well because you are aligned and because your heat has always been in the right place form day one. I’m honored to have inspired you and to be inspired by you.

    Barb – I have no doubt that you do not hesitate to speak your mind. yes I agree. it’s too bad that when the economy goes to hell all the rut-thinking political types scream for more jobs – when they ought to be encouraging more entrepreneurs.

  15. Tony Papajohn says

    Tom, well-said! If there is anything too many of us avoid too often it is thinking for ourselves. And this is one reason why the “hyped up marketers” to which you refer make a bunch of sales. The reality is that one of these systems may have worked for a time “back in the day.” However, as one trusts one’s own vision and, as I like to say, stands on one’s own inner space, one builds a life and a success that is perfectly suited to who one is and the beliefs one holds.

    Then the business activity in which one engages has meaning and resonance that make the money all the sweeter.

  16. Tony – Welcome! I like your spirit. Keep tooting that horn. Each of us has something special to express and when we do we are indeed in the midst of designing a life and lifestyle that serves us well. That’s found looking within and boldly creating.

  17. Hi Tom. I love these questions: What if your greatest potential source of confidence was your expressed individuality?
    What if your greatest way to make more money was also your greatest way to make a difference?

    These should be statements and not questions. Every one of us is unique, and we should never confirm to being average. Most of us have no identity because we have no sense of who we are. We have become the stranger that we invite home. Our businesses are only reflections of ourselves. Discovering potential creates change, and potential is limitless.

    Cheers, Simon.

  18. Simon – Welcome! I agree they are powerful statements. As you’ve probably guessed I get more engagement when I pose them as challenges. Yes you’re right, it all begins with discovery and what most folks don’t realize is that is primarily an inner mission.

  19. It’s interesting to see how people change, just to fit in. Like you mentioned in your example. If there would be more people wanting to stand out, I think it would be a very different society.

    The statements you give, ‘What if your greatest potential source of confidence was your expressed indiviuality?’
    I mean, who would think of this? But it is true and a powerful statement.

    I hope you can help a lot of people with this and your course.

    Best regards, Frank
    .-= Frank Zweegers´s last blog ..Bijzondere foto expositie bij FOAM Amsterdam =-.

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