Master marketer Seth Godin recently had an article in the Guardian on 10 ways to be remarkable. Here are the three that stood out for me:
1) Extremism in the pursuit of remarkability is no sin. In fact, it's probably a requirement.
2) Remarkability lies in the edges. The bigger, fastest, slowest, richest, easiest, most difficult. It doesn't always matter which edge, more that you're at (or beyond) the edge.
3) Not everyone appreciates your efforts to be remarkable. If fact, most people don't. So what? Most people are ostriches, heads in the sand, unable to help you anyway. Your goal isn't to please everyone. Your goal is to please those who actually speak up, spread the word, buy new things, or hire remarkable people.
OK, one more:
4) It's not really as frightening as it seems. They keep the masses in line by threatening them (us) with all manner of horrible outcomes if we dare to step out of line. But who loses their jobs at the mass layoffs? Who has trouble finding a new gig? Not the remarkable minority, that's for sure.
Godin is a remarkable marketer; if you're not familiar with his books, have a look.