The 3 Things That Make You Unique
What are you a triathlete of? Explore your blend of abilities that make you truly unique.
Why fit in when you were born to stand out?
- Dr. Seuss (1904-1991)
Have you ever wondered what made you unique? Special?
I pondered this as a child. I loved reading, numbers, dreaming, and riding my bike. I wanted to prevent and cure disease. I wanted to share God's love.
But I wasn't exceptional at any one thing.
The best triathletes aren't the best at cycling, swimming, or running, but they are really good at each of them, and when woven together, they excel. If they only competed in cycling, swimming, or running, where fractions of seconds decide whether you matter or not, they would be quickly forgotten.
So, what are your unique abilities and dreams, and how can you weave them together to be especially unique? See this, and your whole world will change!
1. Your Experiences are Your Key to Unlock Your Greatness
The only source of knowledge is experience.
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
I've always been a generalist, not a specialist. I've been a Family Doctor, CEO, and generalist. I thought that was a weakness. When I read David Epstein's book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, I realized I was uniquely positioned to combine my love for health, wealth, and wisdom.
When you lose something, you can despair or fight to rise again.
I lost my health when I was 14 and vowed to learn about health so that I could help others. I became a doctor at 30. I don't teach health in hospitals or clinics but at community events, Bible and business conferences, and food festivals (and in the future via newsletters, social media, and books). I teach health as philanthropy. I learn so much more in these diverse settings and communities.
But to do that, I asked above for the wisdom to be an entrepreneur, a purveyor of wealth principles. My specialty is online startups intersecting with tech and the real world while bootstrapping.
I learned from my wise mentors that I should always seek wisdom, walk with wise people, and immerse myself in books that unlock wisdom.
The ability to connect seemingly unrelated fields allows for more insight and connections — making one exceptional in a special class. Don't limit yourself to a single narrow path; instead, cultivate a wide array of experiences that can give you unique perspectives.
2. Trial and Error is the Way
Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
- James Joyce (1882-1941)
Since I had not taken any business courses when I started my entrepreneurial ventures, I applied what I knew — the Scientific method:
Form a hypothesis, a list of assumptions.
Design an experiment.
Gather the data and get results.
Then iterate upon your hypothesis and assumptions until you discover ‘truth’.
Trial and error were the norm. But in school and business, you are taught you should not fail. Failure and learning are part of the process to discover truth. Don’t shy away from this, but lean deeper into trial and experimentation, designing and conducting the experiments to disprove your hypothesis (way of thinking) and assumptions (false beliefs) as quickly as possible in order to unearth truths.
Rather than sticking rigidly to one way of doing things, people who excel are often those who experiment and learn from their failures. The most successful people often take a winding path, testing different interests before finding their sweet spot. For personal growth, being open to making mistakes and iterating on lessons learned is key to standing out.
3. Thinking in Decades
Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.
- Bill Gates (1955-present)
Reading the stories in the Bible taught me to think long term. When God promised something, it often took decades, centuries, or millennia to be accomplished. But our natural inclination is to expect to realize our dreams quickly. We then give up too easily on our dreams.
What are your goals for each decade of your life? Your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s…80s, 90s, 100s? Work backwards from 120 to your present age.
I've done this exercise often. At 100, I would like to:
ride my bike 100 km and do 10 pull-ups
recite the book of Proverbs and
have donated 100 million dollars to health and church
These are subsets of the impact and measures of health, wealth and spiritual health for me.
While specializing early might give you a short-term advantage, you position yourself for better long-term success when you take time to explore and learn more broadly. Developing a range of competencies helps you be more adaptable and prepared to innovate or pivot when necessary, making you more resilient and exceptional in the long run. Play the long game.
Your Life Question:
You are most special but somewhere along the way, you forgot just how special. Remind yourself daily why you are special.
What are your 3 unique abilities?
List them now.
Then, a metric that will measure your progress for each of them, both a quantitative and qualitative metric.
For my health, I focus on VO2Max (a measure of oxygen utilization) and my 122 km bike ride to Whistler once a year. Ten years ago, it took me 5:07. This year, I did it in 4:01. Next year, my goal is 3:45.
My Life Lesson Then (from my younger self):
Dreams are meant to come true but we often forget to even dream, let along believe that our dreams can come true.
Dream and ponder.
I loved reading fantasy and science fiction books when I was young. The stories allowed me to travel across the universe and time, to imagine what life could be, and why not?
Life Advice Now (from my present self):
People dream of heaven, but we often don’t realize that heaven starts within us.
Let heaven come to earth. All dreams to become true must manifest while we walk the earth.
How do you pull the spiritual realm of the heavens into you and onto this earth? You pray and seek wisdom, networking with those who have similar dreams and align with you. Even the Son of God had 12 disciples.
Next week:
The One Thing that Skyrockets You to Success
The secret of all the most successful people in history.
The 80/20 principle states that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of efforts. Focus on the few things that truly matter, and success will follow.
Richard Koch (1950-present)
See you next Thursday!
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