We all have an unfair advantage — it’s your unique genius. It’s that thing that you have that no one else has.

 

It’s a combination of what you have done in your life and what has happened to you in your life.

 

It’s a blended smoothie of nature and nurture. What you were born with when you came into this world mixed with how the environment you grew up in and the environment you now live in influences you.

 

Michael Phelps was born with paddles for feet and orangutang arms. He then put in a hardcore amount of effort to master the technique of swimming. This balance of nature and nurture amplified Phelps’ ability to dominate at the Summer Olympic games.

 

The same goes for Lance Armstrong. All steroid talk aside, when Lance was diagnosed with cancer, his body was destroyed. After intense bouts of chemo Lance could barely cycle down the street or walk to the mailbox. His body shriveled and any muscles that he had worked hard to develop were now gone from the intensity of cancer. He had years of practice to develop the skill to be a strong cyclist, but now he didn’t have the body.

 

So, he rebuilt his body into the perfect cyclist’s body with massive tree trunk for muscle legs and this helped him landed several Tour De France victories. And yes, I’m aware that it’s easy to brush off his wins and dismiss them because of steroid use, but I think that’s a cop out. Sure, he may not have won all those races, but he still would have been incredible.

 

Bill Gates had an unfair advantage when he had access to a computer as a teenager when only very wealthy people or universities could house the computer which at that time was the size of an entire room.

 

And the list goes on. 

 

Finding your unfair advantage comes from being aware and noticing. What did you come into this world with and what have you developed?

 

Who have you met?

 

What have you learned?

 

What can you master? 

 

If Michael Phelps chose to never swim and pick up a computer instead, I’d doubt we’d here of him and his impact in the world would be far less than it is now.

 

The same for Bill Gates. If he took up swimming instead of nuzzling his mind into the intricacies of a computer, I’d doubt we’d see him at the Olympics.

 

My good friend Scott Oldford broke down six traits that make up your unfair advantage.

 

Scott is a serial entrepreneur in Canada who launched his first business as a teenager. He now runs Infinitus which is a successful international marketing company. 

 

Experience

Skill

Tallent

Knowledge

Character

Connections

 

Let’s break that down. What I’m going to do is ask you a question for each trait and I’d like for you to think about. I’ll pause a moment between each question in case you’d like to stop this recording and actually write them down.

 

1. What experiences have defined you? I call them dots. These are moments in your life that have shifted your life’s path.

 

2. What skills have you learned?

 

3. What are you actually good at? We could all learn skills, but what are you actually talented at? What have you mastered or have the potential to master?

 

4. What can you teach to others because you have enough knowledge to do so?

 

5. Are you being authentic and have you grown to love yourself? If you do where a mask, when do you find yourself able to take it off? This is where you should focus your time and attention.

 

6. Who do you know? The world is made up of beautiful people doing amazing things. And we’re all working together. We grow by building people up and helping. When you grow your network based on being authentic, you’re allowing people to help you and will often be able to return the favor. It’s a lost nicer climbing a mountain and sharing the view then being up at top alone. 

 

To dive a bit further, here’s a bit of what Scott had to say when we sat down for a chat:

 

Enter Scott

 

So, what's your unfair advantage? I’d love to hear it.

 

Your unfair advantage is not a bad thing. The word advantage had a connotation to it like the word hustling does. It conveys that you’re winning and someone else is losing.

 

it’s a hierarchical way of looking at things.

 

But what if instead of looking at your unfair advantage as a way to take advantage of someone, you look at it as a way to enhance someone’s life. Because if you recognize that you have a gift and you don’t use it and you don’t share it, then that’s the biggest waste of all.

 

We all have a unique gift to give to this world and it’s our duty to share it.