Let’s step back a little and realize that when push comes to shove, none of us are really that unique.

No matter what your horoscope tells you and how many postcards from Grandma you’ve gotten over the years, deep down inside you’re pretty much the same as everyone else.

Before you get upset, recognize that if no one thought the same way, acted the same way, lived, loved and learned the same way, we would accomplish nothing as a society. We would be one big, rambling group of beautiful snowflakes floating around wishing that, “someone out there understood us.”

You would also be out of a job.

If you run a business, you rely on the fact that everyone shares a bond, that as a species we are uniquely similar to one another and because of that fact we need a lot of the same things to thrive.

If you create art, your work is to find those things that tie us together and express them in ways that matter. If everyone was “special,” if there was no common thread — music, writing, games, and film would be an elaborate, self-serving game of shadow-boxing.

We spend a lot of time embracing the qualities that make us different. It’s how creative types work, and it’s a good thing too because if you don’t think you’re special then pretty much no one else will. While it is important to keep this in mind, it’s just as important to realize that everything worthwhile, everything that works and grows, does so because it serves someone.

Don’t mistake this for “serving everyone.”

You don’t need to spend your life pushing out generic widget #27 to be successful, honestly, I don’t care if you are opening up an organic pomegranate juice bar as long as it’s fulfilling some kind of need.

What it boils down to is that you need to be honest with yourself about where you and your creative energy fit into the scheme of things, who you are really working for and how what you do helps to better the society that you are a part of.

Because let’s face it, as a great philosopher once said, “Of course you’re unique, just like everyone else,” so you might as well use it.

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