Why Is It SO Hard To Get Noticed?

Seems everybody nowadays is trying hard to get noticed. Advertising companies spend gazillions creating ad campaigns meant to flaunt the next big thing. Millions of people go to work each day hoping that their efforts will, even in a small way, get noticed by the powers that be. Entrepreneurs sometimes go to extremes to gamble everything they have on the "big idea."

With everyone competing for attention how, exactly, do you get noticed? Experts will tell you that in order to get different results, you have to try something different. Celebrities have been doing this for years. Every time I open the paper, I read about the latest celebrity who found him or herself in rehab (again), arrested, and/or doing something crazy in public. Celebrities know how to get noticed - even if in a negative way. Who is it who said that there's no such thing as bad publicity? Look at Paris Hilton and Britney Spears (Yes, I know she's no longer hip, but it worked marvellously for her for a while).

What baffles me is the amount of attention paid to celebrity media stories, when there are thousands of other people who are looking for a platform in which to express their talents or voice their opinion.

Personally, I feel I'm at a career crossroads, in that I'm not sure (exactly) what my next step will be. I wish I could say exactly where I'll be working - and exactly what I'll be doing - but I can't. I only know where my interests and talents lie, and hope that somehow it will all come together.

Like many, I feel that I'm trying hard to get "noticed", but haven't stumbled upon the opportunity that, in my gut, would make me say "this it IT - this opportunity is MEANT for me."

For now, I'll keep trying to get noticed. And I'll try different things. Instead of taking the usual business courses, I signed up for an acting class. I'm learning how to play golf this summer - an interesting compliment to my yoga classes and interest in competitive skateboarding! Instead of writing an article for a marketing publication, I wrote an article for an internationally distributed skateboard magazine.

Maybe by trying different things and expanding my comfort zone, something will click and I'll find my niche.

Have any of you ever felt this way? If so, how did you change your strategy so that it produced different results? Can you share tips with other readers of the blog?

SHOUT IT OUT. TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT. SOMEWHERE THERE'S A PLACE FOR YOU, AND ME.

Comments

[Lewis Green]

Karen,

I don't mean to sound presumptive. Youa are one of the smartest people I know, but...

Instead of "Like many, I feel that I'm trying hard to get 'noticed', but haven't stumbled upon the opportunity that, in my gut, would make me say "this it IT - this opportunity is MEANT for me." How about looking inside yourself and create your own opportunity.

Let's face it: Cool opportunities aren't looking for the right person. Nope. The right person finds them or creates them.

Best wishes and good luck.

[Karen Hegmann]

Hi Lewis

Thanks for your comment and good wishes! Much appreciated.

I guess I should have qualified my statement. Like you, I definitely do believe that we create our own opportunities. Life just doesn't happen to us if we sit on the couch.
I actually have been working hard at trying to create the right opportunities. I've done a lot of networking, worked at finding opportunities to get published, set up information interviews...lots of things. Perhaps I'm just not using the right tactics - or, as they say, if something's not working...try something else.
That's why I'm trying to stretch my comfort zone by trying new things.
As you suggest (and it's a good suggestion)...maybe if I look deeper within myself I'll find that "something" that will open the door to what I'm looking for.