How to Impress People and Get Ahead in Life

Wrestling is a grueling sport to participate in. It requires an intense physical and mental commitment that most other activities in life would never call for. It's also relatively unpopular compared to other high school sports because unlike other athletes, it doesn't necessarily garner you any popularity. Even if you're a great wrestler, the majority of the population don't understand the sport and therefor, don't understand how great you are.

For these reasons and more, my high school coach found it an uphill battle convincing his best wrestlers to practice during the off-season. "You want us to come to the wrestling room... in July?" We'd ask, bewildered.

Wullbrandt, our coach, would always say the same thing, "If you want to get ahead of your competition it's simple: just look at what they're doing and do a little bit more."

It was a remarkably simple equation for how to win wrestling matches, yet only an uncommon few would ever show up for those off-season practices. Simple, not easy. Inevitably, those uncommon few would always impress the next season and most would turn out to be state placers or champions.

Wullbrandt's method for getting ahead of our competition works as well in life as it does in wrestling. The secret to impressing people and getting ahead is to be uncommon.

Being uncommon simply means doing something that falls outside of normal expectations, or occurs less frequent than what is typically expected.

Have the dishes done before your parents or spouse get home from work, ask one intentional question at dinner instead of pulling out your phone, or make a concerted effort to remember a birthday or anniversary you've forgotten in the past.

Most of us exist in the same society, which has repeatedly lowered its expectations of how a human being should exist and act. It's remarkable how easy it is to exceed expectations in a society when so little is expected from us.

It doesn't require immense talent, abundant resources, or even a great amount of time to be uncommon. All you need to impress people and get ahead is to find opportunities when expectations are low and exceed them.

Want to impress people and get ahead in life? Surprise those around you and be uncommon.

Fact

According to Marc Tucker, from the 1970s to the present day, there has been no meaningful improvement in the average educational achievement of American high school students in English or mathematics.

Action

Be uncommonly kind to one member of your household this evening.

Question

When was the last time someone was pleasantly surprised by something you did?

Quote

“Some people expect too much from others and too little of themselves.” - Christy Ann Martine