Today I am going to share a fantastic idea from an equally fantastic book named “Barking Up the Wrong Tree” from Eric Barker the creator of the Barking Up the Wrong Tree blog which YOU MUST VISIT!

Visit his blog. It’s simply amazing. Ok?

So the idea of the book is about daring to be different, daring to be eccentric in your quest to be great. In the book we read:

“Dr. David Weeks, a clinical neuropsychologist, wrote, ‘Eccentrics are the mutations of social evolution, providing the intellectual materials for natural selection’.  They can be orchids like Glenn Gould or hopeful monsters like Michael Phelps.

We spend too much time trying to be ‘good’ when good is often merely average.  To be great we must be different.  And that doesn’t come from trying to follow society’s vision of what is best, because society doesn’t always know what it needs.  More often being the best means just being the best version of you.  As John Stuart Mill remarked, ‘That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of our time.’  In the right environment, bad can be good and odd can be beautiful.”

So, are you afraid of being yourself?

Are you afraid of being eccentric?

Are you trying to be good when good is merely average?

Why would anyone choose mediocrity when greatness is reachable by just being the best version of who you already are?

To be great, you must be different.  And to be great, you must be your best self.

This is the idea. Just be your best self.

Take care!

All my best,
Konstantinos Karypidis