Jeff Bezos: 'A Price for Your Distinctiveness'

It’s seemingly time-tested advice that should be followed regardless of the circumstances: Be yourself.

Embrace individualism. Be different. Don’t concern yourself with how others perceive you.  

But in his annual letter to shareholders last week, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos provided a sobering reminder of the costs of non-conformity.

“What I’m really asking you to do is to embrace and be realistic about how much energy it takes to maintain that distinctiveness. The world wants you to be typical – in a thousand ways, it pulls at you. Don’t let it happen,” Bezos wrote.

“You have to pay a price for your distinctiveness, and it’s worth it. The fairy tale version of ‘be yourself’ is that all the pain stops as soon as you allow your distinctiveness to shine. That version is misleading. Being yourself is worth it, but don’t expect it to be easy or free. You’ll have to put energy into it continuously.”

The hardest battle we fight each day is to be the person we wish to be, not the person others would like. That comes with a unique — and often frightening — set of challenges.

What if we’re not accepted? What if no one understands us? What if we’re viewed as crazy or radical or extreme?

We say it’s admirable to take the road less traveled, but if we can’t navigate the wilderness, is that really the right path?

A break from the masses is scary. We can face rejection and loneliness as our world struggles to process what it can’t understand.

But a life of true consequence and distinction ultimately requires seeking backroads to seldom-visited destinations. That means risk. That means exposure. That means being willing to lose it all.

A far-fetched business concept. A bold move to a new city. A complete change in career or lifestyle.

Can we handle the repercussions if it doesn’t work out? Can we persist despite what others might say? Will we say we never should’ve taken the risk in the first place should it fail?

To win, we must also be willing to lose. To achieve greatly, we must also be willing to fail miserably.

If we aren’t at peace with being labeled, misunderstood and even outright rejected, it’s incredibly challenging to achieve anything of notoriety.  

The cost of individualism is expensive and will undoubtedly lead some to file for mental bankruptcy.

But those who persist?

They reach the destination of freedom. They reach the destination of prosperity. They reach the destination of supreme independence.

That’s the most serene place on Earth.