lives. When you start owning who you are, owning your power, being more productive, more loving, more physically fit and energetic and happy, you’re lifting your standards and are no longer settling for mediocrity. Honestly, did any of us ever say, “When I grow up, I’m going to settle for being mediocre, average, and fitting in”? Of course not. The problem is that most people spend their time watching TV, being reactive, being busy just being busy, planning, and playing the victim, letting life coast by.

What you want to be is an anti-victim, an A player, and a leader. Own your inner visionary and you can change the world. Did you know that every visionary was first ridiculed before he or she was revered?
 
It happened to me. When I first started out as an author, many of my family, friends, acquaintances, and even fellow authors would pooh-pooh me for even thinking I could succeed, saying things to bring me down instead of getting behind me and saying things to lift me up. They had that negative instinct, which is the first reactive instinct in all of us. Just know that you really can change the world and do amazing things, or you can choose to fit in with the herd. You can’t do both. I chose not to fit in with the herd but rather to walk that lonely path that has given me so much self-confidence, love, and gratitude, and it’s changed me into a better person.
 
One of the challenges is understanding how. How do you manage to be different from everyone else? How do you manage when people don’t understand you? When you’re a leader and are running your best life, it’s a lonely sport. People will wonder why you’re getting up so early, why you’re being so positive, why you’re not participating in a conversation to gossip and tear someone down, why you’re radiating your best and being optimistic or loving with strangers, why you’re doing world-class work when most people are just coasting, just getting by. No one signed on for settling, so don’t settle, and don’t spend the best hours of your day, or your life, being busy just being busy. Embrace the fact that you’re different, and be okay with every part of yourself, inside and out, that’s different from everyone else.