Be Different: Do what the 99% aren’t doing

 

The probability of you being born on this magnificent piece of land was 1 in 4 trillion. Clearly, your sperm did something different, that its counterparts didn’t or couldn’t do, as a result of which you today have the privilege of reading this article.

But look at you, what have you been up to? 

Aren’t we all a little too caught up in following the masses, trailing behind the latest fad, getting caught up in the trap of doing what society wants us to do, and being scared shitless to tread on the road less traveled or to do anything different than what the majority is doing?

So, in this article, I wanna talk about how you should think and be different, why you should do what 99% of people aren’t doing, and what will it do to your life. 

Let’s start off with the why.

Why should you be different in this world?

Tell me if I am wrong, but you have thought about it now, haven’t you? 

“So what if I do what everyone else is doing? What’s the big deal about it? I mean, why go through that extra hassle, why take the undiscovered and unknown and uncertain path, why mess up with my already comfortable life?” and so on.

Well, frankly, to answer this question, there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with it. Hell, when 99% of the people are doing it, why would it be wrong, right? 

The thing is it’s ok to live a normal mediocre life. It’s ok to do what everyone else is doing and choose the tried and tested path. 

But you should be aware of the fact that doing what everybody else is doing will only get you what everyone else is getting and nothing more. 

So, if you are ok with it, if you actually are fine with it, then it’s no problem. Seriously, I am not being sarcastic or anything. I just want you to be aware of what you are getting yourself into.

The problem arises when we have those big-ass dreams and fantasize about being in that 1% category but end up doing what everyone else is doing. And what ensues is resentment, hate, bitterness, guilt, the feeling of worthlessness, which ain’t pretty.

If you don’t want to be on the top of the pyramid or want to live like everyone else, then you can leave this article. Again, don’t think I’m insulting you or anything, I’m just telling you who this article is for. 

Nothing makes me happier than seeing people being aware of who they are and what they want and acting accordingly. It doesn’t matter what other people think.

And nothing makes me sadder than seeing people being totally oblivious of who they are and then acting all funny in life, ending up nowhere near where they really wanna be, because they never defined where they wanna be.

Why don’t people do what they should be doing?

Now that you are still here, I am assuming you are one of those who do want to do something special and extraordinary in life but are unable to, or simply put, haven’t been able to figure out how to actually stand out.

So, let’s discuss the two major reasons as to why you end up in the trap of doing what everybody else is doing. Once you figure out why you do it, you would also know where to shift your attention towards so as to stop doing these activities that are only pulling you down and start doing what you should be doing.

 

1. ATTENTION 

Your attention is going to be the elixir for businesses in the future. The one with the maximum attention will thrive the most. I don’t know if you are paying attention to it or not but all those big corporations, including news channels, brands, social media companies, celebrities, sports, are already fighting tooth and nail to grab as much attention of yours as they can.

Unfortunately, most people are just not aware enough to know where the majority of their attention is being spent at. And since they are not aware, they don’t know how the day goes by and consequently have no sense of direction as to where they are going on with their life.

The simple rule of life is that whatever you focus on, will expand. If your focus is stuck in meaningless and time-wasting things, don’t expect anything meaningful to happen with your life. 99% of the people don’t get to where they want to because, well, you got the idea.  

 

What to do about it?

Acknowledge that you have limited time and limited energy in this world, so you cannot pay attention to just anything and everything happening around you.

99% of the things 99% of people focus on aren’t gonna add any kind of meaningful value to their lives whatsoever. But their minds are working on autopilot because of which they are just doing things, without examining them.

So, what you should be doing is making a habit of questioning yourself.   

But question what exactly?

EVERY. GODDAMN. THING.

Start right from questioning your dreams or desires. There’s a good possibility that your desires aren’t your own and someone else planted them in you for their own benefit. Uprooting those second-hand desires would be a good place to start from.

The fact of the matter is that your desires are the leash that controls your attention. Whatever you desire, your attention will only cater to that. 

So, once you weed out those groundless and worthless desires, now’s the time for you to zero in on what it is you actually want from life and clearly define it in your head. That’s when you’d be able to take back control of your attention and direct it to places that actually matter.

This is why clearly defining what you want and what you don’t want from your life is so darn important. If you are unclear or set the wrong aim for your life, there’s a very high probability that you’d get trapped.

I know this isn’t a very comfortable question to ask. Most people only ask questions that they already know the answers to, which is why they never ask something that they actually should be asking. And since they don’t ask the right questions, they only get what everyone else is doing.

So, if you want to be different, you should first be aware of what goals or desires you are choosing, and more importantly, why you are choosing what you are choosing. Are they your own goals? Or are you just following someone else’s lead?

2. Addictions

A really big one. 99% of the people are addicted to all kinds of things, including but not limited to, games, drugs, social media, mobile, porn, food, and so on. 

Needless to say, if you are spending your time here, well then, nobody else is gonna do the work for you.

But what even is addiction really? And why do people get addicted? Why is it that every time you try to quit your addiction you somehow magically get drawn to it again, and again, and again? Is it the pleasures that keep you hooked? And is that pleasure happiness?

The fact of that matter is that, behind all those cycles of pleasure that you experience, lies guilt and regret and suffering. While you are doing the activity, you are on cloud seven as you lose control of your senses, but when it’s done, that’s when you realize what you really did.

And on the contrary, when you overcome an addiction, no matter how small or big, then even though you’d feel pain in the beginning, what awaits is pure happiness and joy once you conquer your addiction.

If someone tells you that their addictions make them happy, then they are either lying or they are just not aware enough of what it’s actually doing to them. 

You can’t possibly misconstrue a life filled with regret and suffering as a happy life now, can you? 

Addiction is synonymous with a trap. It’s just like a rat trap, come to think of it. The rat, aka you in this scenario, is lured into the trap using a bait, a kind of pleasure, and the second the rat ‘enter the dragon’ to grab the bait, that’s when it gets entrapped.

The more tempting the bait is, the more the rat will feel compelled to get its hand, or mouth, whatever, all over it. It’s kinda both funny and disturbing how eerily similar we humans are to rats when it comes to becoming a prisoner because of our own stupidity.

Everywhere you go—booze, internet, drugs, social media—you will see traps filled with a bunch of prisoners who don’t even know they are the prisoners in the first place.

Why don’t they know? Because they see everyone around themselves in their prison, giving them the false pretense that everything is fine and normal.

So, how to deal with addictions?

Ok, now that we established the fact that addictions are one of the leading causes that hinder people from doing what they should be doing and keep them from becoming different, the obvious next question that pops up in the mind is, “What do we do about it?”

Well, we got two choices. Either we can deal with our addictions one by one because chances are that you are addicted to a lot of things. That’s obviously gonna take a lot of time, and honestly isn’t very smart and efficient either.

The other way is to uproot the whole addiction thingy once and for all.

See, the thing is, whatever you are addicted to, be it anything, you aren’t addicted to the thing itself but what it does to your brain. You are addicted to those torrents of ‘feel good’ emotions and hormones and chemicals that get discharged whenever you come in contact with a particular thing.

The thing in itself isn’t the cause of your addiction. If that were the case, everyone would be addicted to social media and cocaine but that’s not the reality. That’s why I told you that battling your addictions one by one on the outside by keeping your distance or by any other restraining activity won’t tackle the real issue.

We need to tackle the situation in our minds. There’s no running away or neglecting your mind. It’s gonna be there no matter what you do and where you go. When the garbage is inside your mind, you don’t have to start brooming on the outside. It’s pointless really because no matter how much you broom your outside environment you are still gonna stink because you carry the garbage inside you.

So, if we can get things straightened out inside us, we can overpower any and every addiction once and for all.

 

“BUT HOW?!?!?!”

Well, I don’t know how. Seriously, there are no easy steps or any cheat codes, or any blueprint to go about understanding your mind.

But I can tell you this if you start focusing on what’s going inside you, then you already are doing what the 99% never does, you’d already ‘be different’. Perhaps one of the reasons why they don’t is because it’s a long-term game with no guarantees, clarity, or immediate rewards and a whole lot of confusion and discomfort in the beginning.

No google, doctor, psychiatrist, or teacher can explain to you how your mind actually works. They can in theory, but trust me guys, understanding the depths of your mind is a purely DIY activity.

So, the next time you scroll through social media, or light another puff, or are about to gulp down another shot, or any other addiction, just be aware of what’s happening in your mind. 

Look out for each and every signal that’s bouncing off in your mind. See how your actions are like music on which your mind is dancing. That’s real learning of your mind.

You won’t understand shit about what addiction really is just by sticking your eyes out on these glittery and pixelated screens. You will only understand it when you see it for yourself.

The one who masters the mind, everything becomes super easy for him. It becomes effortless. Those who don’t try to understand their mind, and keep on postponing it, well you’d often find them struggling and trying too hard.

Start Understanding your Mind to Be Different

Understanding the ins and outs of your mind is not the last step. Don’t be under the misguided impression that you first have to figure out your job, your career, your business, your relations, your health, your family, and then you’d think about your mind. It should be the other way around.

The mind should come first before anything. Because if you can understand your mind, you can understand everything you were gonna do anyway. 

Making money is easy when your mind is working efficiently and is able to spot the gaps in the market or to learn a skill and become better than most. Making money is super hard when your mind is all jumbled and puzzled and lost in its own sea of thoughts.

Handling your relationships is easy when you understand your mind and see what are emotions and feelings and how it affects a person because if you understand your emotions, you’d also understand the emotions of other people too and consequently you’d be able to empathize with them better. Trying to forge a brighter connection with people without the understanding of your own mind is a recipe for a disaster.

The thing people misunderstand about the mind is that they think their mind is only limited to themselves and it won’t help them understand anyone else. But actually, the ‘mind’ works the same. For you, me, and everyone else. 

It’s the content in the mind that is different for each and every one of us, but the way we process that information, that’s exactly the same. That’s why it’s such a big deal to understand your mind. And it drives me crazy how 99% of the people don’t see this through.

Here’s another kicker boys and girls, 99% of the people, since they don’t do what the 1% do, end up having an incomplete picture of who they are and how the world works, while the 1% of the people who focus on understanding their mind, end up knowing not only what’s going on with themselves but also the 99% of the population.

 

Instant gratification

I didn’t even tell you the best part yet. When you start focusing on your mind and see its activity, you instantly get the reward. This is perhaps the only passion you can develop where you don’t have to wait for days or months to see its effect. 

For any other passion or work, you generally have to wait to learn the skill first, then get some mediocre work, and then if you are lucky you might get some good work which also generally doesn’t last very long. And even if you find good work, and are consistent with it, and achieve all the success, name, fame you wanted, you’d feel empty once it gets repetitive. 

But with your mind, you instantly reap the rewards.

You don’t have to wait for anyone’s approval, you don’t have to impress anyone, you don’t have to tell anyone, you don’t have to judge yourself based on someone else’s critique. You and you alone are involved in this passion, where you pay attention, you are the spectator, you are the player, and you are the one who wins, every time. 

This could be done anywhere, anytime, in any way you seem fit. In fact, you could see what’s happening in your brain right this second as you read this sentence. Check out if you are being bored and want to bounce off to watch some Instagram reels because your mind wants a kick, or whether all this talk is keeping you hooked.

You can literally start right now and see how it can change your life for the good.

Life will become a game

When you actually make understanding your mind a true passion of yours, life will become a game. 

Now, it won’t matter whether something’s good or bad, positive or negative, happy or sad, pleasure or pain; you’d be more interested in seeing the activity happening inside of your mind instead of wallowing in the sea of emotions and information. 

You’d neither go apeshit about the good nor would you dread the bad. One would, uhh how do I put it…. yeah, actually understand how to live his best life. You wouldn’t flounder in either of the states and would keep moving on, humming a nice song, with a playful gait.

To draw a comparison, a normal person who’s oblivious to all this mind shit would be dictated for all his life by either fear or greed. If something good happens, his greed would draw him towards it again and again, and if something bad happens, his fear would keep him away from doing it for the rest of his life and he would keep thinking “What if it happens again?”.

Would you rather live a life where you keep juggling between the two extremes? Or would you rather understand those extremes so that they up their control of your life and hand it back to its rightful owner, aka you? 

But hey, don’t be under the misguided impression that just because you are passionate about your mind, you’d become impervious to emotions and feelings and other external stimuli. Of course not. That would make you dead. Of course, you’d feel everything. 

It’s just that you will have a better understanding of what those emotions and feelings are, which will make all the difference in the world. You’d be able to navigate through life effortlessly and in a more enjoyable manner.

If you think about it, who would you say is living a better life: a person who gets scared shitless when something unanticipated happens and totally loses his senses when something overly good happens; or a person who is adept to go in either of the extreme situations and still come out on the other side cartwheeling?

Well, obviously the latter. Such a person isn’t the one who didn’t get affected by the good or bad at all, but actually, he is the one who didn’t let the outer circumstances dictate his inner world which is precisely why he could bounce back sooner than later.

 

You can’t go back

The thing about understanding your mind is that you can’t go back. Once you learn a certain aspect of your mind, once you discover a particular dimension of your mind, you can’t unlearn it or undiscover it. 

It’s like for every step you take up on this ladder of learning your mind, you can’t take a step down. That’s the beauty of it. And climbing this ladder will make you different from the herd.

 

 

Make no mistake, only the 1% of those who have control over their mind can do what the 99% can’t.