Ep. 2 Thoughts on being #1 or #2

Personal Development Master Tony Robbins speaks in one of his seminars about the idea that in the Olympics, the top 3 athletes in every sport go on to win global recognition, endorsements, amazing trophies and more. And then he asks the question, so what does #4 get? “What does the 4th fastest person IN THE WORLD get?” In a loud booming frightening but fun voice, he responds with “NOTHING!” “Fortunately,” Robbins continues, “the world is not an Olympic sporting event, and everyone who was in the room had the potential to succeed. (You can check out some of his great programs here if you wish.) This article looks at that concept a bit more in depth. Let’s start this with a fun perception exercise, and I’ll ask you to be as creative with it as you can. Don’t just state the obvious with these upcoming questions. Yes, the “obvious answers” will undoubtedly pop into your head, but I ask you to look beyond that. And the purpose of this exercise is to show to you how differently we all perceive the world around us. Even though most of us probably recognize that people all see things differently, I am going to share how understanding these perceptions can be of benefit to your professional or personal life, your business or your social relationships. Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash Let’s use an example to get started: If I ask you to imagine or look at a cup, what do you see? I am not going to give you ideas just yet, because as soon as I state them the “answers -neither right nor wrong-“ will seem apparent. Now put yourself into the mind of an artist. I mean really take an extra effort to imagine yourself as someone with an artistic flair with a passion for creative work. You don’t have to physically or mentally become them (in case you are overthinking this exercise). Just imagine. Has anything changed about the way you see the cup? What if you imagine looking at the cup from the perspective of a businessperson whose primary business is marketing and sales of dining wares. Does your perception of the cup change now? Maybe it does. Maybe your perception does not change at all when you work hard to step into someone else’s shoes. And maybe you are waiting for me to get to the point. Here are a few of my ideas, hopefully, you came up with plenty of your own so that I do not interfere with your creativity. Here’s what someone might think of when you first see a cup — a container for your coffee. It is made of glass (or ceramic). It might have an interesting design, or it might be plain. It might be only good for water. Extending this further, an artist might see a canvas upon which to design, and a businessperson might come up with a way to improve upon this product or sell it better. An athlete might not even think a cup to contain liquids, but instead, a cup used to protect themselves first. During the holidays, one person might see a cup as a wonderful gift idea, while another might think “they already have tons of fancy cups and mugs, I need to think of something else.” Now let’s look at a few other scenarios. When you hear the name of the company “General Electric” what do you think of? When you see a Starbucks Coffee Shop, what do you think about? Does it make you feel anything? When you see your beloved pet, do they evoke the same emotions in you as your pet might to a random person? Now imagine yourself as someone very different from yourself in career, opinion, or even level of achievement. How might they answer those questions above? I won’t go on to share more examples of “what the answers could be” because that is not the point of this exercise. I know you as the reader are creative enough to come up with all the different ways different people could answer those questions. That was the first step, to recognize that all types of people can see things differently, and there are so many possibilities even for something as simple as a cup. And the purpose here is not to overcomplicate how we interact with the world aroun