Something stands out because it’s different from what surrounds it. At some point, you were probably shamed for embodying those qualities, so you learned to conceal them.īut here’s the thing: We notice things because of contrast. Your first principles are often the qualities you suppress the most because they make you weird or different. Figure out your first principles-your talents, interests, and preferences-and paint the target around them. Stop aiming for the same obvious target as everyone else. “Make the niches in which you finally reside.” “Of course with everybody else aiming there as well that makes it very hard to hit.” The alternative? “Shoot the arrow, then paint the target around it,” Eno explains. People often want to “aim for the biggest, most obvious target, and hit it smack in the bull’s eye,” Eno says. Springsteen did what Brian Eno, another extraordinary musician, advises. The same man initially dismissed by audiences, agents, bandmates, and just about everyone else eventually became a rock ’n’ roll sensation. Springsteen became a sensation for writing lyrics that capture the blue-collar spirit, that show the distance between the American dream and the American reality, and that allow his audience to find pieces of themselves in his music. Instead of aiming for the same target as other musicians-trying to out-sing or out-play them-Springsteen doubled down on the quality that made him unique: His ability to write song lyrics. He can play the guitar, but “the world is filled with plenty of good guitar players, many of them my match or better,” he writes in his excellent memoir, Born to Run. He readily admits that his voice isn’t amazing. What makes him extraordinary? It’s not his voice. Embrace your idiosyncrasies.īruce Springsteen has had an incredible career spanning six decades. ![]() Listen to the audio version-read by Ozan himself-in the Next Big Idea App. His work has been featured widely, including The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, BBC, TIME, CNN, and the Washington Post.īelow, Ozan shares five key insights from his new book, Awaken Your Genius: Escape Conformity, Ignite Creativity, and Become Extraordinary. Ozan then pivoted and became a law professor to influence others to make giant leaps on Earth. While there, he served on the operations team for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers project that sent two rovers to Mars. A native of Istanbul, Turkey, Ozan moved to the US at 17 to attend Cornell University and major in astrophysics. Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned award-winning professor and bestselling author.
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