Over the years, I’ve begun to embrace being different and not being like the rest of the crowd. My closest friends will often call me weird, and my answer back is usually, “I know, we’ve been through this already, what are we going to do now?”

I take so much pride in being me and want to encourage you to do the same, and it does get easier with age.

We’ve all been created differently, and it’s easy to lose pieces of ourselves to fit in at times. To do what your friends are doing, and to do what’s comfortable. I’m often amazed at those of you who are defying the odds in your lives, organizations, and going against what’s considered “normal.”

I’ve always loved reading and can remember in middle school reading some of the classic business books of our time, frequently choosing those books over “playing outside.”

I can say many of those lessons I learned from those books have propelled me with the mindset to get where I am now, sharing my message with you.

I can imagine you might be reading this message and thinking something is wrong with you because you might not want to go out tonight, or maybe you don’t want to drink, or perhaps you enjoy doing ___________, and those around you do.

My advice is this, and it’s from my boy Steve Jobs, he said: “We can’t connect the dots looking forward, only backward, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect.”

Looking back, these moments in your life will make so much more sense later on when you look back.

In my life
–The dots where I’ve thought differently have paid off for me.
–The dots where I’ve taken risks that were uncomfortable at the time have paid off for me.
–The dots where I’ve challenged the process and had tough conversations have paid off for me.

Please, please don’t beat yourself for being different and thinking differently than those around you. Being different and standing out from the crowd will often get you noticed from those that are outside of your crowd.

From one weird person to another, be weird.

Meet you at the top!

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