How to stand out
As I watched the Miss Universe pageant last Monday, I wondered how one could stand out amidst all these beautiful women from all over the world… I mean universe. For sure, they were all beautiful and talented and the best from their respective countries. For a contestant to be noticed in this sea of beauties, she should have a remarkable characteristic that would make the judges notice her and include her among the finalists – 13, then nine, six, three until the last one standing who will wear the coveted crown!
Life in general is very much the same. In this world of information overload, offering millions of choices all vying for that short attention span of the audience or consumers, how do you stand out? To borrow from top marketer Seth Godin, “What is your purple cow?” which means what makes you remarkable?
In our traditional school system we still educate our students the way we trained factory workers for the Industrial Revolution. Bullying those who are different is still prevalent both inside and outside the school campus, somewhat encouraging everyone to conform and “belong.”
But if you take a look at the pageant, those who offered something different and compelling stood out. Miss Canada was probably the stockiest beauty queen I’ve ever seen but she carried her athletic body with confidence and got into the top 13. The era of dark and morena beauties is also at hand as we saw Miss Kenya, Miss Haiti, Miss Brazil, Miss USA make it to the list. Even Miss Colombia is dark. And of course, our very own Miss Philippines, together with another Asian Miss Thailand also made it.
Be it in a pageant or in our respective fields, what makes someone stand out and succeed are quite the same.
Attitude
A positive attitude is contagious and people would want to work with you and be with you. They will feel your energy and will feel lifted up when they are with you. They will remember you as the lively one who was easy to work with.
Confidence
Your confidence will allow you to walk tall, communicate well with others and express your point with clarity. As we have seen in pageants every year, the most beautiful, the sexiest and crowd favorite finalist will ultimately lose to the one who is able to answer that nerve-wracking question with clarity in 30 seconds. In all types of job, this confidence is equally as important. No matter how great your work and ideas are, if you are unable to express them to your audience well, they would be put to waste.
Be yourself
The only way to exude that positive attitude and confidence is to not try to be anyone else, but to be yourself, the best you. And how does one prepare for this? Educate yourself. Read. Read. Read. What is different about you? Pay attention to what you do best and work to enhance it further. Do good to and for others. It is how you made others feel about themselves that they will remember you.
Ultimately, the best way to stand out is to be your best authentic self. So whether you’re aspiring to be a beauty queen, teacher, banker, public servant, or whatever your dream is, continue to work on making the best version of yourself. 
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Rose Fres Fausto is a speaker and author of bestselling books Raising Pinoy Boys and The Retelling of The Richest Man in Babylon (English and Filipino versions). Click this link to read samples – Books of FQ Mom Rose Fres Fausto. She is a Behavioral Economist, Certified Gallup Strengths Coach and the grand prize winner of the first Sinag Financial Literacy Digital Journalism Awards. Follow her on Facebook and You Tube as FQ Mom, and Twitter & Instagram as theFQMom.
ATTRIBUTIONS: Images from media.licdn.com, missuniverse.com put together to help deliver the message.
