The Power of Not Conforming – by Earl Nightingale
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The need to conform is a constant pressure in our lives. From childhood through to adulthood, most of us follow the crowd so we can fit in. In my new podcast, I shared the fifth in a series of unheard recordings by personal growth legend Earl Nightingale. Earl explored what motivates us to live the way we do and explained how our choice of environment has a powerful impact on the success we experience. Here are some of the major takeaways:
Our motivation is closely linked to our environment
It’s a fact that we tend to act, think and talk like the people we surround ourselves with. Most of us don’t intentionally choose our environment, however, we just unthinkingly do what everyone else does, never really considering where we’re going or how that impacts us. If we happen to conform to a group of people who don’t stress the importance of financial independence, for example, then we will simply never achieve it. Likewise, if we don’t carefully examine our environment and deliberately decide the direction we want to take in this life, we will never get to where we want to go.
Break free of conformity
There are three steps you can take to stop conforming and really succeed.
First, you need to look at yourself objectively and realize that you’re a distinct individual with unlimited opportunity for development in the free world.
Second, you have to ask yourself some questions: Do you want to be like the people you’re emulating? Are they as successful as you want to be? If you continue this way, where will you be five years from now? Are you operating at, or near, peak efficiency or are you just doing enough to get by? Do you devote time every day to think about how you can increase your contribution, realizing that your rewards in life will always be in exact proportion to your service? Are you improving your mind and increasing your knowledge?
Third, do you know exactly what it is you’re working toward? Does your life and work have a clear direction and a worthwhile purpose, or are you just marking time? Are you motivated by what you really want, or are you mass motivated?
It’s not easy to break free from the crowd but, to really succeed, you have to reject conformity and take responsibility for your own life. To learn more, listen to the latest episode of “It’s a Good Life”
