Remarkable Ingredients

A remarkable person is someone who infuses their mission and their expertise to deliver an experience worthy of remarking about to others.

There are two absolutely vital ingredients in remarkability; expertise and mission.

The expertise comes from focused effort in their area of natural talent.  Remarkable people hone their talents to a remarkable edge through years of practice.  Their mastery is one of the things that attracts the attention of others.

Their mission is the bigger ‘WHY’ that drives them.  It’s their deeper reason for trying so hard.  They badly want to reshape the world in some way that is profound to them usually because extreme pressure has been put on their deepest values, and they become hell bent to relieve that pressure.

When they combine these two ingredients into an experience that their tribe can share in, the remarkability needle shoots up.

Oh Noooo….Report card time

Most of us were taught to work on our weaknesses from a very early age, and unfortunately we have taken that lesson well into our adult lives.  Think of a typical parent  seeing this report card for the first time;

English           A+

Math               B

Chemistry      D

History            A

Geography     B

Most parents would immediately be drawn to the D in Chemistry.  “Hey, what’s going on in Chemistry?!  You better buckle down.” They’d likely say.

Here is the thing.  We all have innate tendencies, talents and strengths.  If Chemistry isn’t yours, then all the work in the world will likely make you average in Chemistry at best.  Average is not going to separate you from the crowd, it’s not going to inspire you, and it’s not going to make you remarkable.

If you want to excel, to stand out, and to have fun doing it, then you need to work from your strengths.  You need to invest more in your strengths and, yes, less in your weaknesses.

Here is a secret; the most remarkable people have unlearned the bad habit of working on weaknesses.  In fact, the reason that they became remarkable is because they focused on their innate talent and honed it to a remarkable edge.  The reason they look like they are having fun, and the reason it looks so effortless is because in some ways it is!

Working from our own place of strength is empowering, it’s energizing, and it’s more fun.  Yes, it’s still hard work, but it’s work that pays off.

Our Goals are not our Calling

I spent some misplaced time setting lots of goals in a desperate attempt to accomplish so that I could experience what some remarkable role models were experiencing.  I assumed that since they set goals, wrote things down, and worked hard, that’s what I should do too.

So I did.

But that remarkable feeling just wasn’t coming.  So with each New Year I went about my elaborate annual goal setting ritual.  I carefully reviewed all my great accomplishments of the past year.  Income? Check… 50 books? Check…journaling?  Check

I visualized my new life, clipped photos and put them in a cool book with my goals and plan that I visualized my children reviewing some day.

After a ridiculous number of cycles of this process I finally figured out that my goals were like ladders leaning against the wrong wall.  It didn’t matter how many times I ascended the ladder, the feeling I was pursuing was going to remain elusive until I got clear on what was most important to me.

Successful people achieve goals, remarkable people achieve the right goals.  And they achieve more of them because they get help that successful people do not in the form of increased internal motivation and external support from people who want to help make something great happen.

Runaway Train

I took a train ride recently.  On a walk to stretch my legs.  About half way through my second car I began to notice that people were looking pretty bored.  On the way back to my seat I decided to take an engagement survey of my own (mid day).  I counted 7 cars, each pretty full, and well over 90% of the people I passed were doing one of 3 things; sleeping, eating or staring into space.  No books, no laptops just train potatoes.

How bad is disengagement really?  I’ve seen numerous studies that place workplace disengagement at somewhere near 70-80%.  Some business leaders I’ve encountered get defensive when they hear this.  Not at my business they say.

Let’s look at this objectively.  Disengagement and engagement are a continuum.  There are definitely too few examples of extreme engagement (a reality I am working hard to alter).  We know this because when we ask for examples of truly remarkable organizations (focused service design, engaged employees and a true tribal following) examples don’t seem to jump off our tongues.

So where is everyone else?  It’s hard to say exactly, but consider this; Engaged people are excited.  They can work on something that truly interest them and lose track of time.  I’m not saying that your company is a sweatshop or that your people are miserable.  A good number of people are capable of putting on a good smile and showing up with a decent attitude each day.  And I’m sure that a good number of them are grateful for many things that your company does for them.

But that’s not engagement.  It’s probably mild satisfaction on the higher end.  Engagement is energy; it’s new ideas and action without prompting.  Tom Brady and Bill Belicik are what engagement looks like.  It’s intense caring, interest and effort.  Intense.

Which leads me to a favorite; “Toby, not everyone can be engaged and remarkable!”  Yes they can.  I know because they were when they were born.