You Designed Yourself

Then B.I. said, “Hov’ remind yourself
nobody built like you, you’ve designed yourself”
I agree I said, my one of a kind self
Get stoned every day like Jesus did
What he said, I said, has been said before
“Just keep doing your thing,” he said, say no more.

– Jay-Z, A Dream

These are the words I live by. Puts me in an interesting conundrum, similarity breeds acceptance, but challenging social norms changes the world. I would rather have a lasting positive effect on that world, than be accepted by it.

I got to thinking about this the other day. After months of growing my hair and having fun taking photos, I shaved it all off. I never stopped in the middle and got it styled. (I would argue it had a style all its own.)

There was never a minute where I wanted to have a [insert style here] haircut. I never cared if my choice of hair or hairlessness made it easier (or harder) for me to be easily accepted into the mainstream.

I’m probably extreme in my desire to be different, but I consider my definition is my focus on helping to see products developed that truly change how people interact with each other and the world. (Notice I didn’t say money. I lost my interest in money as soon as I learned how little a lot of money mattered. In fact, I am happy in the reality that I will never be rich. Being rich carries a pile of problems that I would rather not add to the pile I am currently dealing with.)

I guess it all kinda hit home the other day when I was chatting with someone much smarter (and well-regarded) than me. We were chatting about the education of the entrepreneur, and whether its possible to identify “the next Zuckerberg” when they are 10 years old and he said to me:

“The commonality I am seeing in the greats: Zuck, Hoffman, Gates, Jobs, etc. is that they understand how the world should be and how they want to get there. But, most importantly, they are right.”

I am not a “great,” but I know how the world should be in terms of how people should interact with each other. Not the Golden Rule bullshit, but the importance of the free flow of information and speed of communication has on the development and improvement of community. Its why Graphicly is so important. Stories are the rawest form of communication and sharing of information. There is nothing more universal than story. (Post on that later.)

We are the sum of our parts; of our experiences. And over the years, I have realized that my whole is one that has been designed by me to be not part of the popular, to be outside of acceptance. It is impossible to truly effect positive change on the world if you spend too much time trying to belong to that in which you are trying to change.

tl;dr I’m a dork. And I love it.