One’s eyes are what one is, one’s mouth is what one becomes.
That and the stomach.
— [easyazon_link identifier=”1517388740″ locale=”US” tag=”wells01-20″]John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga[/easyazon_link]
Tag: identity
Your face and clothing signal your identity. Your DNA is one thing, your outer-design another; fashion is the only element you can control.
A winsome smile can be deceiving. Inside could be a sufferer undressing the mind’s eye.
There is no need to prejudge one’s possibilities, even our own. Wearing a hoodie masks a coder, not the thief.
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In terms of experience
You can study, analyze, and download all the information in the world but it means nothing without action.
The only true hack is the experience. The courage of your convictions, of choosing yourself, helps put the bones in the goose that stockpile many lives.
When you negotiate with your surroundings, it’s easier to treat setbacks as passing clouds. The longer one can reinvent and adapts themselves, the more exciting life’s experiment becomes.
Think different or be the different one? Express yourself or be the one that you are?
There are countless ways to practice standing out.
However, it is impossible to separate ourselves from the crowds without first identifying what are the popular objects people lust.
We imitate others so we can fit in more quickly. Conformity is a shortcut in the beginning. But in the long run, it is the outsiders that are the only people history remembers.
It is easy to be like everybody else: you just follow the herd around the race track and jump through hoops.
Meanwhile, it takes more courage to step back and intensify what makes us unique. Do what makes sense, even if runs opposite of the status quo.
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A clash of sameness
Now when the phone rings on the train, everyone instinctively checks their pockets. People used to personalize their ringtones so that their incoming calls were unique. Ringtones were a badge of individuality, demonstrating your music tastes and personality. The passengers with the Ghostbusters ringtone anthem always made seatmates chuckle.
The standardization of sound is one indication that the fascination with mobile phones has petered out. Instead, it’s the apps that live on our screens that determine what type of person we are.
LinkedIn, SnapChat, Instagram, Tumblr– these ‘places‘ allude to where we like to live, work, and play. We are uniform on the outside but raging in our little worlds, filter bubbles, or echo chambers on the inside.
It’s only when we chat with a stranger or go the polls do we realize that the digital and physical realities don’t match up. The world is not as it seems.
There is no such thing as a virtual utopia, a second life. If you’re not acting as the person online and off, you’ll inevitably run into frustration and subjugation. The real world runs on tribes until the creative minority once again breaks it back into pieces to retain their originality.
Identities are social. We don’t know who we are until we see how to fit in or stand out from others.
Before people owned mirrors, they saw themselves as extensions of their tribe and God. It wasn’t until the fifteenth century did the mirror introduce people to their individuality. Mirror owners then went on to have their portraits done to reinforce the importance of their self-worth.
Unless you’re a Narcissist, the mirror today is for making edits: to your hair, face, and to brush your teeth. The modern-day mirror is the selfie, the results of having a mobile camera. We use our phones to project our identity onto the world.
Likes and comments are a validation of our uniqueness. Like portraits of past, Facebook and Instagram invite the viewer to “Look at me!” We all become quasi-celebrities. It’s hard to be a true individual, a purple cow, in an age of Internet ubiquity.
So how do you stand out? You don’t. You disconnect. The more unplugged you are, the more mysterious and different you seem to appear. The new individualism is again offline and mirrorless.
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What’s Your Algorithm
What things are you going to let in and disallow in your life?
A good algorithm moderates both online and offline behavior and prevents the mind from becoming too fat.
What things do you want other people to know about you?
A good algorithm shows your work while remaining humble. And it connecs you to with like-minded people, aka your scenius.
Your algorithm is unique. People may share its characteristics but not it’s subtleties. Your algorithm is also elastic, recasting itself to a world that constantly demands attention.
Have you checked your algorithm lately?
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Hello, World
Introductions require a greeting, your name, and if you’re at work maybe a little bit about what you do.
But really all you need is the greeting. As soon as you pronounce your name and your title people start judging you.
Sometimes you’re better off giving the world a simple ‘hello’ and leaving everything else to the imagination.
Identification undermines the mystery of understanding. What you see is what you get.
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Body Moving
- You are what you own.
- You are what you wear.
- You are where you work.
- You are what you say and tweet.
Is your lifestyle a clear indication of who you are and what you really desire?
Most of the time we can’t get what we want, so our actions are pragmatically confined to what we can actually get and make the best of.
But if you adopt the thinking of your existing lifestyle you may dent your imagination. The will to believe beyond the way society defines you is the only way to convert fantasies into reality.
Reflection is both internal and external. You can accept it in perpetuity or you can think and chip away at the things you need to be happy. The work is waiting, but only if you really want it.
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Success Through Less
When we get nervous we tend to throw out everything and see what sticks.
This often leads to unnecessary tweets, excess Instagrams, and surfeit emails. It only works when you’re new and you’ve yet to establish a permanent audience.
But then you need to slow down production and evaluate where you see the best results. People will unfollow you if your work is jumbled and if you proclaim mastery in areas where you’re actually mediocre.
People demand the best content. Once you establish a niche, keep serving them the content that they want instead of trying to appeal to all audiences.
Constrict if and when you can.