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Nothing can keep you from being extraordinary.  It’s totally up to you no matter what you do. Check out this blog article about an extraordinary dentist.  The blogger actually blogged about all the extraordinary things her dentist does.

In 2004, Mark Sanborn published The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.  In this book he tells the story of his mailman Fred.  Fred really cares about the people on his route.  He treats them special and becomes their friend.  He watches their homes while they are gone and goes the extra mile in everything he does all the way down to how he puts the mail in the mailbox.  He turns what many people would consider a mundane job into a job where he makes a difference in the lives of others.

“If Fred the Postman could bring extraordinary creativity and commitment to putting mail in a box, I can do as much or more to reinvent my work and rejuvenate my efforts.  He is proof that there are no insignificant or ordinary jobs when they’re performed by significant or extraordinary people.”  — Mark Sanborn

Eckhart Tolle is a big proponent of doing everything in a quality manner.  He takes it farther than anyone I have ever run encountered.

“Whatever you do, you will be doing extraordinarily well, because the doing itself becomes the focal point of your attention.  Your doing then becomes a channel through which consciousness enters this world.  This means there is quality in what you do, even in the most simple action, like turning the pages in the phone book or walking across the room.  The main purpose for turning the pages is to turn the pages; the secondary purpose is to find a phone number.  The main purpose for walking across the room is to walk across the room; the secondary purpose is to pick up a book at the other end, and the moment you pick up the book, that becomes your main purpose.”  — Eckhart Tolle

The passage quoted is part of a larger context about inner and outer purpose and cannot truly be appreciated without the larger context of his book.  It’s about being totally present in everything you do.

It sounds bizarre when you read it, but I truly think he is on to something.  I was reading his book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose on a weekend and that whole weekend I tried being totally present in everything I did, including the simple act of walking around the house.  I was shocked and amazed at how I felt.  By being in the moment, the extraordinary quality happens automatically.

It’s hard to describe how it feels to perform basic actions in such a quality manner and so you will just have to experience it for yourself.  Doing this requires no heroic effort and no special skills.  It requires only a change in attitude and habit.

These various sources and examples as well as my own experience, demonstrate very clearly to me that you don’t have to be in any particular job or circumstance to be extraordinary and make a difference in your world.  It’s not about your circumstances, it’s about you.  You no longer have any excuse not to be extraordinary.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.