“Extraordinary magic is woven through ordinary life. Look around!”
― Amy Leigh Mercree
Look around you. With today’s technologies there’s almost no way of being “normal” or “basic” on any given moment. We are given the world at our digital fingertips to make our lives extraordinary and personalize each of our day’s the way that we sit fit for ourselves.
We have the opportunity to customize our lives like we didn’t in the past. Prior to this decade brick and mortars ruled our streets and influence was mainly reached via a television screen. Now the internet has led to an increase of e-commerce sales and influence is on multiple new and traditional platforms.
So how do we use this to our advantage? How do we benefit from this culture of personalization? This isn’t just about going into your local shop and bedazzling your top or screen printing team numbers on a jersey. This is about so much more than that.
You are given the chance to stand out in a world that is full of sameness. A world that is so full of people trying to compete with one another, by doing the same thing (but better). A world that is so full of people copying, replicating, and faking.
Don’t be one of them. Be yourself, proudly and honestly. Be you because, as they say, everyone else is already taken. You have the power in you to be divergent in the very best way. Take it upon yourself to not fall towards the masses, and embrace being different.
How do you do this? You think before you speak (and not in response to someone else), do what you say (and not what someone else says), go towards your dreams (and not someone else), and model your life after your mind (and not someone’s social feed).
Sounds easy enough, right? Well, how can the internet help you customize this life for yourself? How can you use the technology available to use today to be someone other than your coworker, your friend, your sister/brother, or the stranger on your morning commute?
Here are 8 ways of personalizing your life online:
Customized Career
So long are the days you checked the paper for a new job opportunity. The internet has given us so many ways to customize how we portray ourselves to a future employer, and how we can make a career on our own. Everything from LinkedIn, to blogging, to online e-commerce sites like GoSpaces, to Glassdoor, to Monster, and more.
Customized Car
Granted this is materialistic, a car that represents you is something to be proud of. Nowadays car sites are allowing you to customize your car online when it comes to exterior, interior, and all that jazz.
Customized Gifts
How nice is it to give someone a gift that they actually like and will use? Don’t be like the rest of them that settle for a $20 gift card. If they’re special enough to get a gift for, get them something special. Personalize wine and engrave the glass, or get really fancy and engrave tech gifts or even jewelry.
Customized Home
You can use the internet to design blueprints for your new home, use tons of sites or apps to redecorate, or hire someone based on online reviews who can bring your idea to life.
Customized Clothes
DIY your own style using one of these 15 sites that help you create custom clothes that scream “you” without imitating someone else. You can even go as far as to make your own brand and sell your own designs here or here.
Customized Resume
You can use online programs to help design your resume, hire someone on Fiverr or find a template you love on Etsy. Make yourself stand out in your new job interview and not just blend into a stack of resumes.
Customized Travel
There are endless way to customize your next vacation. You can use apps, itinerary makers, and any travel website to pick and choose the parts of the world you want to see and how exactly you want to see it. Don’t just follow the latest lists and articles — take a chance a pick a random destination or somewhere you never thought you’d go.
Customized Life
Don’t like your life? Then change it. Update your resume, take a vacation, change your career, get a new interview outfit, get the job, save up for a car and a house, drink your customized wine to celebrate (aka all of the above). Do it in the reverse order, not at all, or with 100 different things in between.
The above might not be enough to really make you stand out from the crowd, but that’s mainly up to you (the internet is just here to help you more than before). It’s truly just a start to get you thinking about how else you can personalize your life to truly fit you. Use it wisely, but remember one thing when you get close to being sucked into sameness:
“Uniqueness is what makes you the most beautiful.”
― Lea Michele
