It’s common knowledge that if you work hard, you’ll get ahead. It’s common knowledge that if you have a great education you’ll get a well-paid job. It’s common knowledge that if you play it safe, you won’t lose anything.
Very much “common” but very little “knowledge”.
Oftentimes the common knowledge has nothing to do with life. Because in life, weird things happen for the strangest reasons:
- The most selfless and loving person gets cancer and dies.
- The happiest employee gets laid off and finds no new job.
- The most eager husband gets divorced and dies alone.
And then these poor people ask themselves: “Why me? Didn’t I do everything just right? Didn’t I behave just as I was supposed to?”
And the answer is “yes”.
And that’s why they failed.
—
Here is where following the things “you are supposed to be doing” really leads you…
1) First, you’ll follow the masses.
Because you think that’s the safe thing to do and you want to eliminate the risk of “dying” of boredom, death, or loneliness.
2) Then they drag you along.
And you can’t get out of it anymore since you already committed so much of your time and energy. And it gets more and more difficult the longer you wait.
(“I can’t just do that now? Look how far I have come already? I have responsibilities! I will be promoted pretty soon! It’s not so bad, right? Also, why should I throw away my hard-earned education and my safe job? I don’t want to start anew…”)
3) And finally, you’ll get trampled by them.
(“How could they do this to me?! They TRICKED ME! They took everything I had! Now I have nothing…”)
Happy end?
—
You’ll never find the solution to YOUR problems if you cling on to the masses who are blindly following the “things you are supposed to be doing”.
Who assures you that it will work out for YOU as well?
Who can promise you that you’ll be OK with where this path leads you?
Who said that YOU’ll be happy too?
(Are THEY even?)
—
What would happen if you always do the opposite of what EVERYONE else is doing?
- When everyone is buying you are selling.
- When everyone is selling you are buying.
- When everyone is putting his eggs in one basket, you spread.
- When everyone is multi-tasking, you commit to one project.
- When everyone is saying yes, you say no.
- When everyone is saying no, you say yes.
- When everyone is saving, you are investing.
- When everyone is scared, you are brave.
- When everyone is losing their mind, you stay focused.
- When everyone is afraid, you step up.
- When everyone is following, you are leading.
Way more fun.
And it’s more rewarding too.
