Differentiate yourself deliberately
We live in a world where the power law applies everywhere.
A system where minority generates majority of results.
1% having highest share of money.
A small section of politicians and celebrities holding most fame and influence.
A select few companies contributing to almost all of the economy.
It is a system where :
A small number of outcomes control the majority of results.
A small number of actions create the majority of impact.
A small number of people hold most of the attention.
The rest of the curve stays flat.
The majority produces nothing substantial or doesn’t own or command anything substantial.
That means being average inside this system gives you nothing.
Being average means being part of the majority that holds no leverage or relevance.
It is because the system does not reward participation.
It rewards power.
And as per power law, the outlier minority will always hold it.
And power sits only at the edge.
We live in a world where influence drives outcomes.
We live in a world where perception shapes conditions.
We live in a world where what is visible gets selected.
In such a world, being average is an act of sabotage.
It is deliberately choosing the part of the system that creates no change.
That is why you must become an outlier.
You must do outlier things.
Your thoughts must be outlier.
Your execution must be outlier.
The systems you create must be outlier systems.
You have to differentiate yourself and your actions.
Because average inputs have no upside.
And if average gives you nothing, you lose nothing by taking the extreme.
Even if your outlier move does not work, you stay where you were.
But if it works, you become the part of minority which hold majority of the outcomes.
You become the one that owns the outcomes.
You become the Pareto input that dominates all outputs.
There are billions of possible sentences in the English language.
But only a few outlier sentences have ever carried real weight.
Sentences like “And let there be light.”
Sentences like “Give me blood and I will give you freedom.”
Sentences like “Make America great again” which survived three presidential terms (Reagan and Trump) over decades in one form or another.
Sentences like “What goes around comes around.”
These are not ordinary random phrases.
They were skillfully crafted.
And they carry intangible properties that turn them into anchors.
They did not just capture attention once. They held it over time.
They became bastions of influence.
They survived while everything else kept shifting.
They outlived generations.
While slangs and catchphrases fade within decades, these outliers last centuries.
Average sentences lose relevance instantly.
But outlier sentences survive across timelines.
Outlier sentences create belief systems.
Sometimes even religious ones.
Outlier sentences control the psyche of millions.
Even in something strange and abstract like language, the power law applies.
Being an outlier guarantees influence and power.
Being an outlier is not optional.
It is not for the few.
It is the only rational move.
Right now, I do not have the tools to tell you which outliers will win.
What wins might shift with time, environment, attention cycles.
What is today an outlier might not be an outlier tomorrow.
You have to navigate with your best judgement and trail and error.
But the truth remains that being average is not the answer.
Average never produces system-wide outcomes.
Which means you must make the choice to be an outlier.
You must choose to be different and create something different.
You must gather attention and create influence in extraordinary ways.
Ordinary begets ordinary results.
Outliers begets extraordinary results.
Being average in era of shrinking middle class is going to be worse than just a few decades ago.
Our brain is ever curious to learn and to spot dangers
Our brains are made to notice changes.
Our brains are made to notice what is different.
In a sense, we do not see what is same or average
The whole world is not a danger.
The world is a neutral place with some danger in it.
So the playing field for our brain is such that majority is not worth bothering about.
So our brain learns to filter.
Only few things justify the energy spend required to detect so that we can avoid them or learn about them.
Thus we see only what is different and not average.
That means being average is being invisible.
By being different, you are giving yourself a chance to be noticed.
And after being noticed you open yourself to be liked, heated, loved, ridiculed.
And if those public discourses are shaped deliberately then they result in influence and power.
It’s a human world. A social animal’s den. You have to make moves with human brain in consideration.
But the first principle is not being average.
Even slight changes to few components of average can lead to the outlier that wins it all.
Do outlier things. Say outlier things.
Because only outlier statements create attention.
Only they carry texture and stickiness.
Ordinary sentences slide past the mind.
They are too smooth to hold on to.
They are covered in oil. No one remembers them.
Outlier sentences interrupt.
They create friction. They stick.
And this is not just language.
This is how systems behave.
Deviate from a law and the whole system moves to stop you, arrest you and prosecute you.
Tell me any other time system cares about an individual that much?
Be different.
Be yourself.
Be an outlier.