3 Steps to Being Remarkable

24 Nov 2009

become remarkable

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” -Oscar Wilde

A quick way to become remarkable is to amplify yourself. Analyze and take your traits to an extreme in whatever you do and create. You use your existing self, so no research or calculated efforts are needed.

You’ll be unique because no one else is like you; you’ll be remarkable because you’re taking your traits and quirks to the edge, where few people go.

You can do this exercise tonight in one sitting and start becoming remarkable tomorrow. Granted, like with anything, you won’t perfectly execute your remarkableness right away. But you’ll have your clear game plan to follow, and by continuing to implement it, you’ll become remarkable almost definitely sooner than you think.

Why Being Remarkable Matters – a LOT

There are more people creating and saying things than ever, especially with the spread of the internet. The only proven way to cut through the noise and get noticed is to be remarkable.

You don’t try to please everyone. Instead, you laser-focus your content to others like you. And there are a lot out there. A community, in fact. And those will absolutely love your stuff, assuming you make it remarkable. They’ll be far more interested in a remarkable you that talks to them on their level then some middle-of-the-road “safe” website.

Sure, you’ll turn some people off. But those folks aren’t a good fit for your stuff anyway. So why prolong the disinterest? Snip them off from the get-go to not waste yours and their time.

Be remarkable by being an amplified version of yourself. You’ll attract the most receptive audience, and you’ll be of far more interest and value to them.

So, how do you implement this quick way to become remarkable?

Step 1: Analyze Your Traits

Write down all of your traits and quirks you see in yourself. Don’t try to spin some interesting angle here: simply write them out, stream-of-consciousness style.

Step 2: Take It to the Edge

Look at each trait and quirk and see how you can take it to the edge. How do you push your favorite traits and quirks to the extreme? This is the step that forms your remarkable self.

Some examples:

Trait: I don’t drink = Remarkable: I’ll never touch a drop of liquor as long as I live
Trait: I live in a suburb = Remarkable: I’m at the most boring place on earth
Trait: I smile often = Remarkable: I have the biggest, most relentless smile in the world

Step 3: Inject Into What You Do

Start utilizing your now-remarkable self in whatever you do. Inject your to-the-extreme traits and quirks in your writing, music, business, performance, or whatever you create.

It won’t be perfect at first, but like with a sport, you practice to get better. The more you do something repeatedly, the faster you improve. With your game plan in hand, inject your remarkableness into what you do and don’t stop. You’ll become more remarkable almost definitely sooner than you think.

Bonus Step: Multiplied Extraordinariness (ME)

Do you want to amplify your remarkableness? Combine quirks and traits for Multiplied Extraordinariness (ME). Inject ME into everything you do and create.

For example, are you a huge traveler and have that world’s biggest smile? Than one of your ME’s could be that you make the world smile – literally. You travel the world and make almost everyone smile from every single country.

How These 3 Steps Helped Me Become Remarkable

I had trouble being remarkable. I just didn’t see myself as such. Me? Remarkable? I’m just a regular person. How do I become remarkable?

I started thinking of how I could fabricate a story, or which attitude I should adopt. I thought I needed to come up with an artificial way and fit myself into this remarkable mold.

But the more I read and consumed various remarkable things by remarkable people, the more I noticed they were like me. Well, not exactly, but they were regular folks. The truly remarkable people didn’t seem to force it, but just embraced certain quirks they had.

So one day, I took a look at myself and wrote down all my traits, to see if I could find some interesting quirks. After just a short while, I realized that I had a pretty interesting combination of traits and quirks, some of them which most people didn’t have – and I didn’t even realize it before.

The next step I took is to see how I could push them to an extreme. Why not? I already had these traits, so it wouldn’t really be any extra work. I’d just be consciously taking my traits to the edge.

Here are a few I came up with:

Born in Russia, lived in various parts of the US = citizen of the world
Don’t drink or smoke = non-drinking Russian
Make all my electronic dance music on my laptop and earbuds in various places around the world = world’s most mobile pro-level musician
A writer, musician, and personal development seeker = authority on maximizing creativity
Never followed societal rules, found my own way = most nonconforming freerunner
Child-like curiosity, don’t limit myself to how I “should” act = eternal kid in an adult’s world

When I started writing during the summer of ’09, I was concerned how my articles could be remarkable. I mean, the topics were on the unconventional side of personal development, but how do I make them even more unique?

I quickly realized I could infuse them with my traits. In fact, I saw that I could combine a few of them into each article for the aforementioned ME effect. And I’d like to think that even my early articles had at least a little bit of remarkable Oleg Mokhov in them.

Now, I feel comfortable with my remarkableness. I’m not trying to brag or delude myself or anything, but I’m simply confident in and embrace my traits and quirks to an extreme. Infusing my writing and music with them is a start, but if I keep at it like I’ve been doing, hopefully my stuff will keep getting more and more remarkable.

Of course, I’ll let you be the judge of that. And let me know if I’m boring to you, so that I can kick my butt into high gear and try harder. But the point is, I have my game plan, so I just need to keep working at it to become more remarkable.

Become Remarkable by Amplifying Yourself

Want to cut through today’s noise and be noticed? Know your stuff is great but having trouble grabbing attention? The proven way to solve that problem is to be remarkable, and the quickest path to become remarkable is to amplify yourself.

Analyze your traits and quirks and take them to an extreme. By being completely yourself, you become unique, and by amplifying your traits to an extreme, you become remarkable. With your game plan in hand, keep injecting your to-the-edge quirks and traits in whatever you create, and it will become more and more remarkable.

Be unique. Be interesting. Be remarkable by being an amplified version of yourself. I guarantee there’s no one else like that.

Oleg Mokhov is a writer, musician, adventurer. He writes about life maximization for remarkable people and makes energizing electronic dance music for melody-lovers on his site Lifebeat.

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Rich Lazzara

Oleg,

Good stuff. This is one of the challenges of today. People want to be the next (insert superstar here) instead of being themselves. Individuality and uniqueness can be such compelling differentiators. I think most people tend to look at themselves as "boring" or not have the "talent' to be unique. Trust me everyone has it, you just have to find it within. The only difference between you and the "superstar" is they put themselves out there and you havent. Thanks for the reminder to be remarkable.

Nathan Hangen

I think it's really hard, which is why I rely on others to tell me where my strengths lie. I think it's good practice to ask for help and not rush into it. You're right though, we've all got it...we just need to find it.

Oleg Mokhov

Definitely, Rich - all people have potential remarkableness in them, just like superstars did at one point. It's all about getting past the psychological wall of thinking you're boring and dig out your unique traits (and like Nathan said, have others help you if needed).

Johnluffa

This is a very encouraging post Nathan - I actually feel inspired to go 'that' extra mile and unleash my uniqueness.
It is also good to hear you have reached a comfortable level of remarkableness - and your output reflects that.
Keep at it

Nathan Hangen

Oleg has some great points here...he is going to be a star. I've learned quite a few things from this post myself.

Oleg Mokhov

Glad the article could be of some help John.

And thank you for the encouraging words Nathan and John :)

tobias tinker

Nicely put and well worth the read! I wonder if 'amplifying' things you notice or like about yourself might help you become not just more interesting or 'remarkable' but more authentically yourself - as you try to be more like yourself you are likely to spend less effort trying to be something else, what someone else might want you to be.

That's the theory I'm going with anyway... I've never been much good at being what other people want me to be anyway, or perhaps I've just never tried, which is a policy I recommend.

- a fellow musician/writer

my music --> aeosrecords.com (acoustic, organic, electronic, atmospheric)
my blog --> cliffjump.net (a blog about fearlessness and creativity)

Nathan Hangen

I agree with you. And aside from that, it's exhausting to try and be someone else.

Oleg Mokhov

Glad a fellow musician/writer could read this Tobias. You make a good point about being authentic - the more you go to an extreme with your traits, the more you become and act like yourself in real life. Interesting observation.

Srinivas Rao

Hey Nathan,

After writing the post I wrote yesterday where I decided to unleash alot of things I was holding back, I think this post makes a nice way to continue the changing voice on my blog. Finding your remarkable self is truly liberating.

Nathan Hangen

It is, and what's even more liberating, is not caring what other people think. I say unleash the beast baby!

Oleg Mokhov

I agree Srinivas - finding and unleashing your remarkable self is really liberating. What you thought you couldn't do because you weren't interesting or unique now become possible (you have confidence that you could have something to offer).

Jimi Jones

Really inspiring article, Nathan. Makes one reexamine their current state of being. We all want to improve as bloggers and you've provided a nice technique here.

Nathan Hangen

Sounds like I need to have Oleg around more often :)

Oleg Mokhov

Glad you found something useful in the article Jimi.

And Nathan, I'd love to be back on your blog :)

Jared Yellin

Great work Oleg! This is an interesting concept to discuss because people often struggle with acknowledging their remarkableness and as result the people in their world do not have the opportunity to recognize this individual for the "who they are and what they stand for." There is an incredible quote by Dr. Gabriel Cousens who states that "we are all born originals, but why do so many DIE copies." This ties into the concept of living a remarkable life, which is something that all of us have the ability to do once we focus on what we have accomplished as opposed to what we have yet to achieve. Your three steps defines the essence of what makes us remarkable, but a paradigm shift will only take place once each individual OWNS these terms and also believes in themselves as well. They need to begin to inject "ME" into their IDENTITY so that they can begin to live a life of remarkableness which results in dreams transforming into realities...and this is more than possible! Once again...GREAT WORK!

Oleg Mokhov

Thanks for reading and your comment Jared. That's a GREAT quote :)

Best,
Oleg

MaLou

Oleg, This is so inspiring, I love it.
We should accept our uniqueness find something good on them, even if it's hard :) I added this as another discovery in my Stumble Upon.

Oleg Mokhov

Glad this could be of help MaLou. We definitely should find and embrace our uniqueness, rather than trying on fake personality outfits. It's the quickest way to become remarkable.

Thanks for the nice words (and Stumble),
Oleg

Tomas Stonkus

Hey Oleg:

Great work. Really felt the energy coming through the article. It really got me thinking that I should work with what already have instead of seeking new traits that I do not yet posses and turning them into something great.

It's a great time saver and allows you to focus on yourself and become unique. I like that a lot. The main benefit that I got from reading the article is that it increased my awareness about myself. I know see that I have subconsciously done some of the things that you are talking about.

However, I never really sat down to analyze myself in order to maximize my personal traits. Awareness is power. It is power to know what you are doing and do it with a purpose. So thank you for raising awareness which I know will propel a CHANGE in my life towards being the best me that I can be.

Sincerely,
Tomas

Oleg Mokhov

Thanks for reading and the nice words Tom. I'm glad you found something useful out of this article, particularly raising awareness of yourself. This was my big intention with this article - rather than seeking new traits that you don't possess, you analyze and work with what you already have. It's more natural, simpler, and quicker to become remarkable this way.

Again, I'm glad I wasn't crazy with this idea when I wrote the article, and that this message appears to be getting through.

Here's to you embracing and taking your unique traits to an extreme and becoming a remarkable Tomas Stonkus as a result,
Oleg

Gordie

Excellent stuff, Oleg.
Sometimes it's easy for us to dwell on what we think are our most unremarkable points. I actually want to do some video blogs on my blog, but I always feel my voice is so monotone. I look at nearly every other blogger who does videos and think, they all bring out some passion in the energy of their voice. Even Nathan on this site speaks with such energy on his videos.

Any advice, Oleg?

Oleg Mokhov

Gordie: going with the theme of this article, I feel you should embrace and push the monotone of your voice to an extreme.

If you're naturally un-energized when you speak but try to be like Gary Vaynerchuk, then it'll most likely come off as unnatural (and unremarkable, like countless others trying to force "showmanship").

But if you find your unique monotone delivery and push that to the edge, then you'll have a unique speaking voice. One that's cool, or laid-back, or hushed, or nonchalant. Remember: monotone doesn't mean boring - you make it cool by going to the extreme with it.

Some examples are Guru of rap duo Gangstarr, and Massive Attack. They were famous for their almost-hushed monotone deliveries ie. their monotone speech made them remarkable. These guys weren't Busta Rhymes and didn't try to be. Another example is the late comedian Mitch Hedberg. Contrary to jumping around and exaggerated expressions and energy, he looked down on the ground and delivered his jokes in a monotone, almost mumbled voice. And this made him really remarkable.

So, without hearing your voice, I feel you should embrace and go to an extreme with your monotone voice. I wanna hear the nonchalant cool-cat Gordie :)

Let me know what you think,
Oleg

Lance

Oleg,
This idea of amplifying yourself is really jumping out at me right now. I love the concept behind this, and what it can mean - as we each focus on that which is truly uniquely "us".

Oleg Mokhov

Thanks for your comment Lance. Glad you were able to get something helpful out of this article.

Here's to focusing on and amplifying what is uniquely us,
Oleg

Michelle Adams

Help Nathan! I only just discovered your blog recently and have been digging around today whilst having a cup of tea then my intention was to go back to an overdue project! But I can't leave, I just want to keep reading! This happened last time I visited! lol! Not only that, now I've read this post I HAVE.TO go and read Oleg's blog, what a brilliant article this is.

Oleg thank you, you really do give people permission and a 'way' to be themselves.

Awesome stuff, I love so many of your posts Nathan and Oleg has written something really special here too! Thank you for such high quality content.

PS I think you need a warning here, something like:
Warning: Entering this blog could result in losing many hours of time due to an overwhelming amount of quality content if we do say so ourselves! ;)

Nathan Hangen

Michelle,

Didn't you know I wrote all of this just for you? :)

Thanks so much, it's the greatest honor to have you and I hope I can continue to keep you inspired and "distracted."

Oleg is awesome, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him catch on...prop him up if you can!

Oleg Mokhov

Thanks for such a nice comment Michelle. Glad you dug this article, and I'm glad to have you on my site as well. You have permission to be awesome :)

Nathan rocks - that's why I wanted to do a guest post here. And he's absolutely rocking it with Beyond Blogging (very motivating for me). No surprise you got "distracted" with his bounty of insightful and helpful articles here.

Appreciate the encouragement Michelle and Nathan!
Oleg