EPI-81: Eccentricity: Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner
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This is for you “way outside the box types” who may have yet to begin.
You are meant to let your freak flag fly!
Don’t hide what sets you apart from the rest of the world.
Because your very differences are what will bring you fulfillment.
And your particular flavor of eccentricity is what’s needed to save some certain part of the world, in a way no one else can.
Here’s a great article on the topic: “Why we need eccentricity” by Martin Howard.
This is why I love comedians so much.
They both flaunt and enhance their weaknesses, using those very “flaws” to build a world bigger than most will ever inhabit!
And so will you!
Because, like those comedians, your flaws are usually your greatest strengths, hidden and misunderstood.
And that certain part of the world?
You’re the ONLY one who can save them.
Now, by “save”, I mean, benefit in some way. Like what happened with Baby in Dirty Dancing:
Or it might be actually saving them from something dramatic.
Either way, the life you want and the people you want in it, are both drawn to you based on how well you can stand out from everyone else.
So just go for it!
The beginning is going to be rough.
But the growth it causes is necessary for the eventual win.
Transcript
Just click the “READ MORE” text below for the transcript!
Hey. This is Ken Jensen. I’d be bipolar disorder in an all natural fashion back in the mid 2000s. And believe it or not, that’s not even the coolest part of my story.
What I learned through that process and what came next and how that applied to bipolar and why bipolar was ever even part of the process was mind blowing to say the least. bipolar has hidden within its strengths.
I’m gonna show you what I mean and how they’ve shown up in my life so you can do bipolar Excellence podcast episode 81. Accentricity. Nobody puts Baby in a corner. That’s our reference to dirty dancing.
Go look it up if you’re you never saw it before. I loved that movie. I was doing a search for the first time. I was trying to come up with a topic for tonight and there’s plenty I could speak about.
I I don’t run out of topics ever. Something always comes to mind. If not instantly, then within to 2 to 3 seconds, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I can spin it into an entertaining or helpful podcast episode.
That’s what it dawned on me for, I don’t know, for some years, I guess. I had saved bookmarks of articles for topics to talk about in in a bunch of different categories.
On my computer. So I dug through there. And, unfortunately, for what I’m trying to do with this show, Dan near all of them were directly related to issues with mental illness.
Now I have a lot to say about that and could say, but that was my past. Focusing on it was my past. and I’m not interested in in hitting it that hard anymore.
I have talked about it and I will continue talking about various mental health issues, and it’s a it’s a hot button right now, thankfully. So so people are getting more help than than they used to.
And then probably even when I did what I did, almost 20 years ago when I when I walked away from, Western Medicine Medicine entirely, and found an all natural holistic way to to knock bipolar completely the fuck out of my world.
So But again, that that even ties into the eccentric nature of me. I did that by going not just against the grain because I I wasn’t initially.
I was wooded the grain. I was drinking the Kool Aid, but none of the Kool Aid was working. I wanted the Kool Aid to work. I wanted to go with the rest of the herd right to where pills take people and I wasn’t being granted that gift.
The last doctor I had, who I respected greatly, effectively gave me permission to go try something else. I’ve talked about that before.
So what happened next. I’ve talked about that a few times too. But the way the path got revealed to me. It it’s odd. It’s almost like a lot of the bus the bizarre shit that is bipolar help me solve bipolar.
I’ve always been on a fringe, but when I was younger, never realized that, though, just now, when I was younger, not in not in always, but it it got less so the older I got, but when I was younger, I was more I could be more easily categorized as an underdog for for many different reasons.
I had my areas of strength being a fucking marine being was one of them.
But even as a marine, I was only a good marine within the the the parameters of being marine without the marine corps needing me to marine, the rest of me didn’t function so well, if that makes sense.
But the older I got, I wasn’t I I was trying to break out of the underdog role and find my personal strength. And interestingly, as I got older, I eventually found my personal strength.
And then I learned something that was a notch higher in perspective than that started seeking calm I maintained my personal strength, but I wasn’t as focused on it anymore.
I just wanted to be at peace and didn’t give a fuck about anybody for any reason. that had nothing to do with helping me find that peace. That is still in play now.
It’s not to say I don’t care about people, my family, my friends, whatever, but I do lead quite a solitary life, even though I have a job where I work with people, and I have a lot of not only a lot of coworkers and and people I answer to at a company, but I work with people as a job.
I have clients. And I’m awesome with them, all of them.
And I have personal strength that comes into play and how I interact with everybody. But even with these people, I’m more interested in finding my calm. I have it in some ways, but I want more of it.
And the way that I’ve solved everything in my life up to this point, really ties into being eccentric. I attached a LinkedIn article to the post on my website on bipolarexcellence. com episode 81. You’ll you’ll see a link.
I found an article to a guy that talked about why that is a strength, eccentricity, And it basically has to do with eccentric people. as he put it, they seem like they already are mentally ill or heading for a break down of some sort.
They did a large study of some sort and found that most of these people that were wildly eccentric had a lower a lower rate of mental illness by far, and they actually went to the medical doctor far less than the general public.
They tended to live a hair longer than the general public, and they were happier. don’t know if I’ll pull all that off, but I I’m in that mix.
And, I stick to my guns. It’s something that people draw from. My client draw from me, whether on my day job or here as a coach on bipolar excellence or even coworkers and family and and friends, I don’t waiver.
I’m maneuver. I’m maneuver. I strategize. I play angles when I need to, but The me that’s me that people find appealing and intriguing and interesting and helpful, that never changes.
My attitude, the way I talk, what I what I say, what it is I’m talking about, the way I say it, my sense of humor that’s woven throughout all of it. None of that ever changes, and I seem to be in a category of 1.
Every once in a blue moon, I run across someone similar. I talked about that not long ago in one of the episodes. And that is a pure joy to me when I feet when I feet, when I meet a fellow freak.
And we know each other. It is so deeply satisfying when we’re like, You see it too, don’t you? That is one of the coolest things for me, and it rarely happens.
I get one of those every once in a blue moon. But Being eccentric, particularly when you’re younger or starting something new can feel like a weakness or you might second guess yourself or judge yourself too harshly.
If you don’t get the results you’re looking for right away, you might feel like you’re you’re not being serious enough professional enough. You’re playing too far outside the lines.
You’re going too rogue. You see me? I’m always wearing a Rogue shirt. That’s a fitness company, but I like that word on my chest. It ain’t mine. No. It’s theirs. So I’m always rogue. I I always have gone my own way. I get certain.
It’s not constant, but I get away with more than most and most situations, put it that way, but not in an underhanded way so much as it’s how I need my life to be so that I can get things done properly for whoever’s depending on me.
And it’s gonna it’s gonna grate on some nerves. It’s gonna rattle some people more the rattling than the grading. people don’t always know what to make of me. And until they’ve come to know me, it it it it puts them off.
It it makes them, wary. it’s never a bad thing, but if they’re looking to do something with me, they’re not always a 100% sure if I’m their guy just because I don’t fit easily into any sort of mold.
That’s a natural organic thing with me, and it’s also on purpose. Now I apply this to myself when when building a business online such as I am, I’ve said this before.
You’ll you’ll get a you’ll get advice from other successful people and absolutely contradicts the advice of someone else who also devoutly believe in. How can they both be right? because for them, it worked.
They’re not wrong. They’re not misleading you usually. There’s plenty of scam artists out there and bullshit artists, but Most people are when they when they’re a leader and they’re trying to teach you how to do something.
They’re they’re coming from the heart and they’re speaking from experience. They’ll even argue against the the other person that you believe in equally strongly.
And broke my broke my attention. My my I use my phone to make these videos and I just got a text reply. So, anyway, I wanna you to know every little thing that might crop up as you try to do something similar.
Like, alright? That’s one of them. No big deal, though. That’s life. You just keep going. There was a there was a CM sidetrack now. There was a famous author. I believe it was the guy that wrote war and peace, I think.
Pretty sure. I have yet to read one piece. It’s it’s one of my literary Everest. I’m gonna read it one day for the hell of it. just just to know that I did it. It’s a bucket list thing.
Warm peace is it’s it’s a concrete blocks worth of ink in between two covers. You gotta want it. Well, this guy, and I and I believe that’s who this was in the book that was was being referenced when I make this point.
He he had a family, like, teen kids running a ragged, running wild all around him while he tried to write that book, and he did it. You’re gonna face the same shit. So What the hell was I talking about before my concentration got broke?
God damn it. I don’t know. God now. I’d have to pause and go back. This is where editing on video would be would be helpful. I imagine but, I’m not gonna bother with that.
They’re they’re I don’t have to time or the energy. It’s all I can do to put all this together every week and and be on time and just, you know, make my life go. So I’m just saying I I’ve got to use my resources sparingly.
I almost had it. I almost had what I was talking about before. Damn it. Well, we were talking about being eccentric and, oh, I know what I was talking about. Something something about, oh, following advice.
Even today, I mean, this day, the day of the recording of this podcast, something was going on that was bothering me about the overall growth of this and the work I’m putting into it and the breaks I take and the naps I take And and I started getting hyper focused on the fact that most days when I come home from my day job, I am emotionally and psychically and psychologically spent even on good days because you have to give so much of yourself to do what I do and it well.
You’re empty. Then to come home and and work on this stuff is almost impossible because I’m numb.
So I get down on myself, then I’m not working at this harder than I am more often than I am. because there’s results I need to see out of this and I want them faster than they’re coming.
This is a common plight. I always have to pause and remind myself. I’ve done a lot already. on this show. I’ve done a lot online with the site and I’m always doing something and I’m always keeping steady.
As long as you do those things, You’re probably probably if you’re not grinding, you know, grinding it out, being a power player, 80 hour weeks kinda shit.
Like, like you see in movies and and and reading books, I can’t do that. I’ll die. I work generally in spurts.
I can lay out a lot of ass. extensive, extensively in the moment for a certain amount of time. And then I’m I’m empty for quite some time. I can’t do anything sometimes for a week. to or more. Nothing new. I don’t have an Emmy.
I gotta let my batteries build back up. It’s an introvert thing on on one hand. I know that. I’m more introverted than not, but it’s very easy to get down on yourself when the results aren’t where you want them to be.
Now about results, I said on the last episode, Something just recently happened with somebody that found me on LinkedIn, and we’ve been friends for a while.
And now she’s helping me test out new parts of my system as if she was a client.
She’s not. Uh-uh. We’re treating it as if I’m I am coaching her and she is a client. But we have a barter arrangement, and I’m not gonna get deep in all of that because it’s it’s I don’t wanna jinx it.
I don’t wanna if she’s listening, I don’t want her to feel rushed or pressured because I’ve stressed that to her endlessly. this is not you set the tone, and I am happy with it. And I I couldn’t mean that more from art.
She’s building something and I’m helping her design it as I would have paid client. that’s going to benefit me and those of you listening now, everyone in my world, she’s become a division of mine in a way.
It’s hers. It’s not mine. I’m not a partner with her. It’s hers, but I already see ways it can grow, and it’s gonna grow.
That’s going to increase my business. And it will set her up to be in some sort of business position as well. Should she need it or want it? my job is not to force any of that.
It’s just to motivate and guide the creation of this thing we’re doing that we’re both gonna benefit from and our people will benefit from. And I’d like to say more because it’s really exciting, but but it’s not the time for it.
The point is that’s a success. It is not cash in my hand. But it’s the potential for it, and it’s a potential for it in a way that I’ve been more intelligent about than than in the past.
I’ve partnered with people a lot some years back. And I tend to be the one that gives way too much and gets too little or nothing in in return beyond experience.
And, the way that this is structured, it looks the same, but I’m not the one doing all the work now, and the other person is eager to, and I’m just going to guide.
And as I said, this is the the nature of the thing is gonna benefit me and you guys. And I I’ve already figured out ways that it can pay me, but it’s not my place to force that or anything.
I will suggest it when the time comes, And if it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit, and it doesn’t even fucking matter. It it doesn’t. Everything happens as it should. There’s no need to force anything. And I like that.
That calm I talked about before, I have that within this this project. And this this girl was drawn to me because at least in part, I believe, because of my eccentricity meaning I’ve just gone a different way than everybody else.
And I have a different perspective on what happened to me and why than anybody she’d met prior dealing with the same problem and it intrigued her.
And that’s what connected us a long time ago. all this time later, it’s bearing a different kind of higher level fruit. I can’t stress enough to you guys listening how important and how cool that is.
And also layered on top of that, the fact that I did it in a way where I protected myself from my own enthusiasm. This other person is do I protect myself from?
I’m talking about my my ability in the past to jump into anything, say yes to everything because whether it’s got to do with being bipolar or or or a a a generator as I’m referred to in the human design and and a bunch of other different things that I I’ve pinpointed about myself.
I have the ability to burn myself alive from a starting point of massive enthusiasm. And it’s not smart. It’s not intelligent. It’s harmful. and and, it leads to bad things.
At best, it leads to nothing. But I learned a long time ago, I had to protect me from me. all those things I just mentioned, what I was getting at was I have an ability to see the whole damn future of the thing.
I can see all the parts. I know the general skeletal outline of whatever’s involved for all the departments and also the project in its entirety.
When you’re able to do that, it’s very hard to be patient and wait for the win. So you start doing shit on your own. The thing you’re gonna learn when you do that usually You can’t be the only one on the team that’s got all the passion.
In that case, you would be the founder. But even then, the parameters would have to be made would have to be made clear to the team members.
And usually in my past, I looked at all of us as equal players, and that’s how we all understood ourselves and be. And with the exception of 2 guys.
There’s another guy I remembered because I’ve talked about this before. The exception of 2 guys, everyone I’ve ever worked with has been quality people willing to work hard and do whatever to build a dream, but do whatever.
Started becoming something different as the project progressed. And I got overwhelmed and burned out and destroyed because I let it happen, and I’m not on this.
So I feel really good about that. And this girl for the first time, I heard her in a video. We’ve always texted And I gotta tell you something else. If if you’re doing something anything like this, you need to talk to people in video.
You need to see their face. it changes everything. You guys notice anyway. You you know it just from life experience, but when you’re building something important, video has to come into play if you’re not locally based.
If you can’t physically see each other, this shit’s gotta get on video It just changed everything for me, and I was already good with her, and she was good with me.
I’m very excited And and I’m glad that I’m glad I’ve hung in there long enough with everything I’ve done and we’ll continue to hang in there as I increase revenue and build this thing larger and and involve more people, the likes of which like her, I did not see this coming.
Not really. And I’m excited about that. That’s the adventurous side of it. That’s the life fulfillment side of it. Will this work? I don’t know. It should. It should. But who knows?
Any we’re not there yet, but it’s still exciting to find like minded people It’s it’s exciting and satisfying to find people that take someone with an eccentric point of view on so many topics like myself and take us take us seriously.
They can see even if we’re being if even if we’re being goofs, they can see the substance They can hear and feel the passion.
They can perceive the strength involved. They know the backstory of what it took for me to get to now, which was beyond extensive and awfulness and hard work and guts.
And I don’t have to change who I am as a person, my personality, to have in life what I want. Not only that. When put together properly, It’s that eccentric personality of mine that’s going to give me the life I want.
I want you to think about that. Alright? Don’t change who you are. Just figure out how to take it pro. And if you’re an eyeball like me, in some cases, extremely so. I don’t tell you guys everything.
Rest assured, you don’t need to change shit. You state just who you are, boo, and you build upon it and you reach out with it to the universe to the world, to the world, to find the other people like you who wanna run beside you.
And you’re gonna really enjoy the process and do well for yourself. Alright, everybody. Be well.