Positive Deviant

What you measure tends to get paid attention to, and what you pay attention to, tends to get better.

Image by Will Simpson

Image by Will Simpson

7 practical methods for becoming more of a 'positive deviant'. 

  1. Ask an unscripted question. Then see if you can keep the conversation going for more than 2 sentences. Listen and ask for more details.

  2. Don't complain.

  3. Notice and count something interesting, become a scientist.

    - If you count something interesting you will learn something interesting.

  4. Write something - anything.

  5. Change. Be an early adopter.

  6. Create an orderly life

  7. Live modestly


Positive deviant here means be more than 2 standard deviation above the norm in the range or spectrum of social behaviors.  It is easy to be 1 standard deviation above the norm, just by smiling but hard work to apply these behaviors. These behaviors will make you stand out.

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — Atul Gawande - Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

This journal is meant as a reminder to encourage my future self. Where I work on my mental fitness and ‘adulting’. A reminder to him to operate in the world with love and compassion and some tips put together in a moment of clarity to help him when he is less clear and caught up in stuff the he can’t control.  Continue the conversation anytime: will@kestrelcreek.com.