3 Ways To Be Awesome In Everyday Life

So it’s comfortable to coast through life. In fact it is downright easy.

Like a leaf floating down the edge of a slow moving river. It bumps along a few rocks along the way. Sometimes it gets caught in one place for a few minutes. Then it is freed and continues its passive journey.

Then it is violently thrown over the edge of a huge cliff, propelled downward by a billion drops of water. And crushed to watery final grave.

Depressing, I know.

Ever feel like this leaf?

In a weird way, being laid off, fired or otherwise separated is like someone lifting you out of that slow moving stream. Let’s face it, most careers are not leading to the white house, the executive floor or even a corner office.

So despite it being an unwanted event, you now have an opportunity. To be something different. To change your approach. And to try some new things.

In fact, there are 101 (other) things you can do while looking for a job.

But instead of just stuff to be doing, what qualifies for awesome?

After all, you have a bit of time to think about what you do each day. And you have time to execute it well.

In order to fully “get” this post, you need to listen to a little audio nugget from me:

So here are 3 ways you can be awesome:

1. Expose A Great (But Less Known) Person To A Lot Of New People – This is a way to use your influence (and we all have some influence) to help out someone younger or less exposed. It feels great to receive this kind of a gift. Because after you’ve worked hard on something, it feels great to have it recognized by someone around or above you. The CEO who hears about a client service person going out of their way to help a customer. And highlighting that person in front of the entire company. The social media superstar with billions of followers who re-tweets a great post by a little known writer. The restaurant customer who so appreciates a server or chef that they tip big and go online to tell the world of their amazing experience.

2. Take Action On Your Ideas And Pay Attention To Your Inner Voice – I spoke today to a person I met at a recent presentation. She was calling to get a few leads for her target companies. But our call ended up focusing on her real passion. A former dietitian, she has bounced around a few industries. But now she has (I can hear it) a need to morph into someone new. She has a specific plan to use her joy of cooking to build a business. And I told her my story of taking action on my ideas. That I never truly knew what to do until I took action. And paid attention to how it felt to do so. What’s awesome is the real you. Instead of the one that followed the pack out of college. So when you do this, you drip awesome. The world needs more people doing what they are meant to do. You’ll be happier at work as a result.

3. When You Are Somewhere, Be There 100% – You can’t be awesome if you are not giving yourself fully. Now I will tell you that I am still “becoming” in this one. It is hard to focus when your head won’t stop swimming with ideas. And impulses. But the people who I find awesome? They capture my attention by giving me theirs. Real eye contact, super active listening, a good smile and an obvious interest in my answers to their questions. It’s like getting licked by 10 cute puppies. Feels good.

So pick one of the three above and find something you can do when inspired. To be awesome.

Or I guess you can just float along. Getting your back wet.

Photo Credit

About the Author:

Tim Tyrell-Smith is the creator of Tim's Strategy, a ground-breaking online job search and career strategy tool. As a blogger, Tim has been a regular contributor to U.S. News and World Report, was featured in USA Today, interviewed twice on NPR and is the author of two career books (“30 Ideas” and “HeadStrong”). Become a fan at http://facebook.com/TimsStrategy and follow on Twitter (@TimsStrategy). He lives with his wife and three kids in Mission Viejo, California.

Tim Tyrell-Smith – who has written 524 posts on Tim's Strategy®.

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