First and only

One summer day in 1996, I was sitting in a Ghana Airways plane on the tarmac at JFK Airport. Right before the plane took off, the captain proudly announced that Kofi Annan was one of the passengers. The whole plane became jubilant and cheered and clapped. It was only a few weeks after Annan had been named the new Secretary-General of the UN, another first, for that esteemed role.

Have you ever imagined what a pioneer goes through or feels? We are oftentimes very self conscious about being “the first” or “the only” in doing or thinking something, in going or being someplace. Yes, it feels uncomfortable to be the only one out of the ordinary, the one talked about, or stared at, or pointed at, or ridiculed, but remember that none of this truly changes you. Be steely and forge ahead undeterred. Are you “the only” or “the first” in doing something today? Do you embrace and support those who are? Or do you join the masses and point and stare and talk? Each one of us can be the first or the only, if we just quit asking others for permission. #RealWinTips