Forge Ahead Confidently

This morning as I came up to a stop light, there was a long line of cars all in one lane. The lane I was in was empty. Pulling up, I couldn't help thinking I was in the wrong lane. "Do they know something I don't?" These thoughts came subconsciously, as if deeply ingrained in my psyche.

When I was in college, I was taking a photography class for which I had to do a slide presentation, a study of light. (No, I don't mean PowerPoint! I'm talking about the old school 35 mm kind of slides.) There were two ways to interpret the assignment. The time came for us all to present our slide set and tell our story. As many others went before me, I began to think I had done the assignment all wrong. I was the ONLY one who had interpreted the assignment the second way. Rather than being confident in my work, I did a mad shuffle of my slides, and then it came my turn to present. I'm sure you've already guessed that my presentation was a mess and I got a less than stellar grade. Afterward, I spoke to the instructor who confirmed that I was, in fact, right in my original interpretation and should have forged ahead confidently. I learned some valuable lessons that day!

Something deep within us drives us to be like everyone else and follow the norms. But not at defi. We continually drive in the other lane and strive to innovate. We are the disrupters. We have built a team of A players who bring their A game each and every day. We are continually pushing limits and aiming to make it better, do better, BE better. We are not afraid to fail - when we do, we don't let that stop us. We take what we've learned and build and grow from it. We are the ones being followed and copied now, we are setting the standards.

Which lane would you rather be in?