Xtraordinary Women Magazine September 2014

Why being you is the key to success… We are told repeatedly that we are unique. The more flippant people will add “just like everyone else…” I have often wondered then, why we continuously compare ourselves. If unique is so cool, then comparison should not be a human trait and yet it is. It is also an extremely damaging trait that is seldom positive. It leads us to try and change who we are, which is a futile exercise. But what if we could reframe our uniqueness and see its value? The only way we can do this is to change our perspective on 3 things: 1. My personality is my strength 2. I need to discipline who I am so that I can add value to others, 3. I need to be the best version of me possible. My Personality Right here, right now, who you are is all you will ever need. You see the world in a way that NO-‐ONE else can possibly see. That means YOUR perspective is potentially valuable. Very simply, you have to work out what is that perspective. To do that you have to search inward, not outward. You have to discover who you are. More importantly you have to discover who you are NOT. You have to come to terms with you. This is not simple nor is it easy. But you have no option. My Value Just because you are unique does not mean you are useful. Selfishness is simply unapplied uniqueness. In other words you start by trying to take from the world rather than chose to create (or add value). Being useful is the context for who you are. It creates the value. You see until you are useful, you are useless. So who determines this usefulness? They do – you cannot. My Best People are attracted to excellent things. The problem is we do not readily see this excellence around us. This is good news, believe it or not. It means that if you are both useful and really good at what you do, chances are you will be noticed and will be in demand. But the catch is becoming good is not for sissies. It requires a level of mastery and that means hard graft, lonely moments, dealing with dark stuff you would rather not know, perseverance and all that juicy stuff we would rather ignore. The problem is, it is the only way. Which is why we don’t see excellence much. No one can tell you who you are. Believe it or not you know yourself better than you realize. Don’t you think it is time to trust what you see? Take the leap and believe, craft it into usefulness and then work damn hard to become awesome at that one thing. You will ever look back another day. More importantly, you will be your own best friend. www.SimonHurry.com

Xtraordinary Women Magazine September 2014 | Page 32