Being Weird Is a Good Thing
Since I began my journey of obtaining the perfect life, I’ve noticed a strong trend that keeps getting more noticeable as time goes on.
What I’ve noticed is this: The more successful I become in terms of wealth, health, and happiness, the more strange people think I’m becoming.
For example, instead of “living to eat” like most people do, I “eat to live”. The difference between these is that I eat what is going to make me the leanest out of all the choices I have at that time. If this means eating a piece of chicken and some green beans at 10 a.m., then that’s what I’m going to eat.
I don’t get caught up in the illusion of “social norms”. Why follow what the majority of the people are doing when the majority of people are fat, unhappy, and poor?!
Some people think I’m weird because I invest my extra money instead of buying more clothes or going on more vacations. The funny thing is, I think THEY are weird because I can’t quite comprehend why someone would spend money they didn’t need to spend instead of investing it and securing their financial future.
By adhering to social norms, you are subjecting yourself to living the life that everyone else is living. Remember that it’s the little decisions made frequently that determine the outcome of our lives.
If you decide to eat a cheeseburger instead of a piece of chicken, that’s probably an extra 400 calories. If you do something similar for each meal each day (assuming you still only eat 3 meals a day) that’s an extra pound of fat on your body every 3 days.
Over the course of a few decades, that adds up to you being 40-50-60 pounds overweight. Being overweight causes you to feel lousy, die a lot sooner than you should, and enjoy your life much less.
Unfortunately, doing what I’ve just mentioned is now the social norm. If you opt not to go out to eat because you’re eating healthy, people will literally laugh at you (trust me).
Sometimes you must learn to develop a think skin if you’re going to do something outside the norm. People feed off those who are different, even if the people who are different are the ones living the lives everyone should be living.
The scary part of these social norms is that they’re getting much worse. I served a lady the other night who was an easy 15-20 pounds overweight, and I overheard her saying that all her friends tell her she’s too skinny.
What!?!?!
It’s amazing that telling somebody they’re too skinny is socially acceptable, but how often do you hear people telling others they’re too fat? Making fun of a fat person is considered mean, even though you may have the intention of making them aware of the fact that they have dozens of health risks by virtue of being overweight.
As a side note, being 10 or 15 pounds underweight is MUCH more healthy for you than being 10-15 pounds overweight.
Make it a point to start doing everything a little backwards. Start being more unorthodox in everything you do. Why do only about 5% of stock traders make most of the money? They don’t follow the crowd - they follow the charts.
If you can teach yourself to spot out social norms and resolve to do the exact opposite, you will move ahead much quicker in life. The difference between an amateur and a master is that amateurs copy other amateurs, while the master copies from other masters.
Be the master of your own life.
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May 27th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
I really enjoyed this article and it is so true. Following the crowd is the easy way through life, but it is not going to make you sucessful. Being a leader of your own destiny with good decisions on how to achieve your goals and ultimately the blueprint of your life is something you have to do through self determinism and good choices.
It is funny how going against the crowd does make people uncomfortable with you, but it is much more fun being a Rhino than a sheep.
May 27th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Thank you, and yes it’s definitely a lot more fun being the rhino!
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May 28th, 2007 at 6:11 am
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