I heard comedian Steve Martin say this a few years ago during a late night interview with Charlie Rose (who, by the way, is the world’s greatest interviewer, hands-down, IMHO). I couldn’t tell you the context of this statement or what question he was answering. I assume it had something to do with Steve’s secret to success or something along those lines.
I easily remember this quote years later. When I heard Steve Martin say this, it was like an arrow piercing my heart.
We all hear things from time to time that stop us in our tracks because they are profound, insightful, or packed with special meaning. Some things hit us deep and hard and really resonate with us, for whatever reason.
That’s what this statement was for me. Who in the world knows why. I immediately wrote it down to make sure I wouldn’t forget it.
“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” Regardless of your field of pursuit, if you want to rise above the crowd, you must be good, very good! And this level of performance will cause your slice of the world to stand up and pay attention.
We could call this the “Wow Factor”. We’ve all had times when someone’s performance captivated us and held us in awe.
Do people say wow about you and your performance?
Cream rises to the top. Are you the cream or the coffee? Or the coffee grinds at the bottom of the cup?
How do you ignore someone who is that good? You can’t! You might not like the person. You might find yourself criticizing him. You might even be jealous. Perhaps he’s a competitor of yours.
Maybe he’s unseated one of your heroes. Maybe he goes against the grain of tradition and upsets the status quo. Maybe you disagree with his philosophy or despise his strategy. Maybe he has a bad attitude.
Then again, maybe he’s extremely likeable and magnetic, becoming the new “darling” amongst the field of already-familiar faces.
Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure: it’s impossible to ignore someone that good. We can’t help but notice the standouts. We love to talk about the standouts. Something deep within us identifies with the standouts because WE want to be the standout.
We want to do great things. But that’s not quite enough. We want to do heroic things and live epic lives. That hero archetype runs deep within our souls. More on that in a future article.
I’m not a big fan of golf. Frankly, it bores me, among other things. I do know golf requires a tremendous amount of skill, and I respect anyone who is patient enough to keep trying to improve. Maybe I just don’t like it because I’m not any good at it!
I remember when Tiger Woods was coming into his greatness. A lot of people didn’t like him (I’m talking about the pre-scandal Tiger). Whatever the reasons were for not liking him back then, could anyone ignore Tiger? Of course not. And why not? Because his greatness on the links caused him to be un-ignorable.
When you’re “so good”, you’re un-ignorable.
My simple challenge and exhortation to you is to be great! Be “the one” people are talking about. Be extraordinary. Be heroic. Be epic. Don’t mess around with mediocre—“the best of the worst and the worst of the best”. Why would you do that?
Of course, we can’t be great at everything. We only have so much time, energy, and motivation. But that one or two or three things that really mean something to you, personally or professionally–open up the throttle.
Don’t be boring. Don’t be ordinary. Be remarkable. Be incandescent. And what is THE one surefire way to get your world talking about you?
By being so good that it is literally impossible for them to ignore you.
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Hi Sean,
Great stuff. I can see link to my previous post when I mentioned about working harder on yourself than at work. By doing that you will become attractive and people won’t be able to ignore you. They will notice you and seek you out. The is the true law of attraction at work.
On important point to note though is how can we let others know that we are attractive. Sometimes you might have done your work to become attractive, but without some conscious to go out there to be notice, it just won’t help. It is just like a blog with great content but no exposure. We need to work on both and the attractive factor will really become a multiplier later on.
BTW, if you can do pop by my site for the latest post on Hope and Dreams Fulfilled. I have a challenge going on that will need your help to spread the message. Would appreciate that.
Cheers
Great to see you back Jimmy. Thanks for your contribution. I would like to think that if someone really is “that good”, they will be noticed. They have to be noticed eventually. But they also have to be “noticeable”, and be “out there” TO be noticed!
And thanks for the tip about your latest post. I will check it out.
Sean,
Great post. I agree with you about Charlie Rose too!
I also adore Steve Martin – always have.
Steve’s quite the writer too. He’s written several novels that I’ve enjoyed reading. “Shop Girl,” comes to mind.
I like his quote – a lot. Be so good they can’t ignore you. I’m going to remember that.
Thank you!
Thanks Angela–I wasn’t aware that Steve was a writer. I’ll have to check Shop Girl out. It’s interesting to see the span of his career over all these years. I saw Planes, Trains, and Automobiles the other day–doesn’t get much better than that! So, I guess he’s so good we can’t ignore him.
Hey Sean,
I have to agree here. It doesn’t matter to me if I was collecting garbage or telling jokes on stage I wanna be the best that I can be.
Hey Justin, thanks for adding a great perspective to this–it doesn’t matter WHAT we do, let’s seek to be the best we can be, to be extraordinary. You’re pointing out to me that this doesn’t just apply to those “sexy” careers, jobs, and vocations (or what others define as prestigious), but WHEREVER we find ourselves and WHATEVER station of life we occupy. Thanks Justin.
Cream does rise to the top!
> “Do people say wow about you and your performance?”
That’s a perfectly cutting question that is inspiring and challenging at the same time.
Arete comes to mind.
Hi J.D. Ah, the “Wow Factor” . . . not always easy to attain or maintain. But I’m inspired that we CAN attain/maintain that incandescence. I sincerely wish you the best on your journey of being extraordinary!