Once upon a time, during the baby boomer era, being different was a badge of honour. Yes, guys wearing scholls, long hair, playing in your own band and we even had surfers at Hamilton Hill High School the home of the bogan.
In my opinion this is one thing the baby boomers definitely got right. But their kids, brought up in an era of where you get a trophy for just participating and play football and netball with no scoring, are afraid to stand out. They are all about their network of friends and do not want to be ostracised.
Everyone’s afraid to lose friends. Everyone’s afraid to stand out. Everyone’s afraid of criticism. Kids don’t raise their hands in class because they don’t want to be seen as different, as know it alls, better off to play dumb.
The conundrum however is to get ahead in business, or marketing or in your art, we are looking for the new and different and if you don’t have people dropping their jaws, chances are you are not going to last, you probably won’t even be noticed.
Furthermore, just because no one likes what you are producing don’t necessarily give up right away. If you are not experiencing at least a little bit of resistance or if you don’t find people trying to reign you in, chances are you are not aiming high enough and will never cause a jaw to drop.
Dare to be unpopular… because that is where the germ of true popularity begins.
Find out more listen to this week’s podcast
