Stop Being Vanilla!

Let me step back a bit before the vanilla lovers start to hate. Vanilla is good stuff, but in business you need to stand out and chances are “vanilla” isn’t going to stand out in a sea of hundreds of flavours.
 
Let’s continue the ice-cream metaphor for a moment…

Think of your favourite ice cream shop. They’re not necessarily famous for their vanilla ice cream. Everywhere has vanilla, but it’s the shops that have unique flavours that stand out. Maybe it’s jalapeno, pistachio, or an earl grey ice cream. Flavours that are a little bit different.

Today I’m going to share why you need to stop being vanilla in your business, and why it’s important to add your unique flavours. You could be a plain Jane but that won’t help you boost your business and your life. 

Be extraordinary

It is important to be extraordinary. You might be thinking, “Oh my goodness that’s hard!” Let me rephrase: you don’t have to be extraordinary in every single thing you do. I'm not saying that you have to come from a place of perfection every minute of the day. 

Instead, think how can you stand out by being you. Where are you unique? What makes you different? 

The only way that you can be different is by actually knowing what makes you different. Just like our fingerprints are all different, so are you. 

Focus on what makes you stand out, not what makes you better than others. This helps you come from a more authentic and genuine place. Try saying to yourself, “I am unique and my uniqueness is what makes me different. It's the piece that people are willing to pay for”.

When you are in alignment with being extraordinary (AKA being yourself), you’ll find life much easier because it’s far less work to be yourself than to follow along blindly on the same train tracks as everyone else. 

The train tracks of life

I often relate living life to riding on a set of train tracks. You can ride the train in one of two ways.

The way society often thinks of being on a specific set of train tracks is based on your career. Your track is named for your type of business, your job title, or the title society would give you like stay-at-home-mom, wife or other role or title you hold. 

There are hundreds of thousands of other people on that same track and that can confine you to staying stuck on where that track goes and how you should be on it. The trouble with this and focusing on what you do rather than who you are is that “vanilla” people follow others on the track and are not noticed by the onlookers.
The issue is that when you ride your train, it’s not a straight track:

• Imagine when your train goes through tunnels: those are times when you struggle. 
• You go around the edge of a mountain: those are the exciting parts of life. 
• You go uphill and downhill: these are the ups and downs of life. 

Through it all ONLY YOU REMAIN THE CONSTANT; your title does not.

This is the other way you can ride the tracks of life.
Being on that track is important and being on that track as who you are is what will make you stand out. How you respond to the tunnels, mountain edges, and ups/downs will distinguish who you are. 

Can you relate to that? Can you see a time in your life when you were on the track that was based on titles and you were just chugging along with the crowd? We’ve all been there. Me too!

Now if you’re trying to constantly jump tracks, trying to hop on new trains, that’s hard. You have to rebuild that momentum every time. Instead, what if you stayed on your own tracks, but traveled along them in your own way? Hmmmmm… 

Which of the two options do you choose?

• Be on the train of your “title.” Whenever you get a new job or title, you need to jump on a new set of tracks with a new train. And you need to build the momentum again. 
• Stay on the track of who you are, but stop at different train stations as you move through life. The constant will remain you!

YOU need to be the constant.
Who you are is more important than what you do. What makes you unique is key. If you’re an introvert, don’t panic because I’m not telling you to become an extrovert. That’s not who you are. I am encouraging you to push outside your comfort zone to find what makes you different. 

What makes someone impactful?

Think of famous people who have made an impact in the world. For me, Mother Teresa comes to mind first. Think of this person and think of a couple of words you’d use to describe this person. 

Even though you may have never met these people, you can describe their essence. Here are some examples for me:

• Mother Teresa: strong faith, loves unconditionally, devoted (& named a SAINT!)
• Oprah: honest, empowering, influential (& a powerful black leader!)
• Ellen Degeneres: warm-hearted, pushes boundaries, generous (& loves to dance!)
• Billie Eilish: talented, creative, mysterious (& green hair!)

I encourage you to think about what makes you uniquely you. It could be something in your appearance, your personality, or something you do. This combination will be unique to you. 

Think again about what makes you unique. What makes you stand out. 

I recognize this kind of deep introspection can be difficult for some of us so next week I’m going to share how you can get some help to find your unique persona. 

Until then, stay dynamic!