Stillness is the Key Author Ryan Holiday's Best Piece of Career Advice

I recently caught up with my friend and fellow author Ryan Holiday to talk to him about his new book, Stillness is the Key, for my "5 Questions" podcast. Many would say that Ryan has followed a very untraditional career path. Instead of finishing college, he dropped out to apprentice under very prominent authors like Tim Ferriss, Tucker Max, and Robert Greene. After "paying his dues" launching Greene's book, The 50th Law, he was introduced to the CEO of American Apparel that hired him to be the Director of Marketing. Through his five years at the company, he was responsible for many notable media stunts, which became the inspiration for his first book Trust Me, I'm Lying. The success of the book led to several other books, including The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy and his latest one. Ryan has the perfect blend of both being an exceptional writer and marketing, which is an important combination in today's fragmented and competitive world. Ryan's work has surfaced to the top of sports team book shelves and has even influenced politicians.

I've asked Ryan for advice multiple times through various interviews over the past eight years, but I wanted him to boil it all down into one core tip. He said, "you should do the thing that only you can do." What he's saying is that instead of copying others, following in their footsteps and reading best practices, do something that's authentic to you and uses your unique skillset. Ryan went on to say, "One of the great gifts we have is that we're born with a monopoly. We're born with totally unique DNA, totally unique experiences, and a totally unique point of view." All of us have unique talents, perspectives, upbringings, values, characteristics and ambitions. Yet, as we grow up, instead of embracing who we are, we tend to mimic what other people are doing, comparing ourselves to them and saying "I want to be like them someday". Ryan says we have trouble standing out because we spend so much time trying to fit in. He goes onto say that "if you want to be special, you've got to remember that the value is in scarcity." Your value in the marketplace increases when your skills are in high demand but short supply, which is economics 101. That's why if you copy other people, you will get fewer opportunities because the market will be more saturated, but if you focus on your uniqueness, you can carve your own path towards a more fulfilling and lucrative career.

Don't just be another Groupon clone or another Bitcoin startup or another business book that mentions the same five academic studies. Do something unique and special that you were put on this planet to do.

- Ryan Holiday

You can watch the full video interview on YouTube and below:

You can listen to my podcast, 5 Questions with Dan Schawbel, on iTunes, YouTube (for extended video interviews), Spotify, Overcast, or others.