I don’t agree but I understand

Some people are exemplars of the majority. They’re the ones at the top of the middle of the bell curve. They know how the trends work and how to keep the status quo. They are the ‘majority wins‘ and more often than not, they do.

Some people seem to live in an entirely different world. They’re either at the edge of the curve or not that at all. To most people they don’t make sense: sometimes they’re way ahead of everyone, sometimes they’re lagging behind.

If you want to be #1: listen to the former. They have the tried-and-tested methods, the complete path to going where the rest also aims to go. They will guide you through the path of harsh competition and to sweet victory at the top. Listen to them if you want to win and be successful, in the most conventional sense of the word.

If you want to be remarkable on the other hand: listen to the latter. Or better yet, be the latter and connect with others who want to listen to you. Find your own space to be not so that you can have your own status quo outside of the majority, but so that you can keep doing your thing.

This is how change happens, in the lucky opportunities that the rest of the curve end up listening to your small chanting after all and decide that you have a point. Then a new status quo arises: from remarkable to an actual mark. Until something new pops up and earns the attention. But that’s not the point: that’s just how things happen.

Neither are correct because both necessarily exists. The point is to know which one you are (or ought to be or want to be) and the people around you are, so you know when to say “I don’t agree but I understand” and move on.

(But obviously, I’m biased to the latter and this is but a note to self.)