Be unique. EN

We all love the champion, the number one. The winner shows us that we can do difficult things, go further, be better. The hero that explore the limits of what is possible give us hope, show us the way to move forward. The champion gives us hope. 

We are taught that we have to be the champion, the number one, the first, to be valuable. And here is where the problem starts. We think that if we are not the number one, we have no value, and that’s simply not true.

Societies create simplified messages to try to understand what’s good and what’s bad, what’s wright and what’s wrong, what you should do and what you shouldn’t. Those messages are normally delivered subliminally through repetition, and with time, they become true inside the collective subconscious.  

These ideas guide our actions and our beliefs automatically without us being conscious about them. Marketing, communication agencies and interested entities use this human bias to get their message out and provoque specific actions in the population, like buying a product, voting a party or start a revolution. 

But an idea one thousand times repeated doesn’t have to be true. You don’t have to be the number one to be valuable. You don’t have to end up being CEO to have a meaningful career. As a matter of fact, all our heroes were put on that position because of luck and an incredible team. Nobody gets alone to the top. Champions always have help. Victory is never one person’s thing, and you should get credit if you are number two, three or one hundred in a company that gets something great get done. Victory is always a team’s endeavor. 

We all remember Neil Armstrong as the first man on the Moon, but it was a 400.000 people’s effort. They all were winners. We love to see Ronaldo score a goal, but without the other ten players he wouldn’t be able to win a match. Steve Jobs didn’t developed Apple products, just guided the people who actually made them.

You can strive to be the number one, that’s legit, and valuable. But you can strive to be unique too, and that’s equally valuable. Because to win a football match, you need different abilities on each player, and to have a winner company you need different talents among its employees. You can be unique, and bring your unique talent to a cause, but it doesn’t mean you have to work less.You have to develop your talent and give the best out of you. 

You don’t have to be the number one, the CEO, the striker or the first, to be valuable. You have to be unique and be part of a great team.