Being a bald man is something like being a member of a secret society. We don’t have a special handshake, but I’ll take that up at our next meeting. Confident bald men recognize each other with a glance and a smile – we know the strength of embracing one’s baldness. Nothing more needs to be said.
One of the things that bald men almost universally enjoy is a great hat. We love buying them and wearing them. It’s critically important to protect your hair-free head from the sun, but also from bumping into things. And we all mourn the days when all men wore hats, all the time. We’re working on bringing that back.
Such strength is not always that readily evident. You sometimes have to seek it out. If you’re good at what you do you’ll get better, do better work, and get more work, if you surround yourself with other people who are also terrific at what they do. If you’re a building contractor, you won’t do better work by hiring the cheapest dry wall guys or the plumbers who just happen to be available. You get a reputation for quality by working with quality people.
Unlike bald men, who advertise our awesomeness, you’ll have to test out who is truly great and worth your patronage and support, but once you’ve found them, make them a part of your brotherhood (sisterhood, family, secret society, whatever you wish to call it). Working with great people and terrific businesses will make you raise quality of your own game.
I’m not a golfer, but I’ve been to a few professional golf tournaments, like the Memorial Tournament, currently going on here in Dublin, Ohio. These sportsmen are amazing, but when pitted against each other, they raise their game to something that doesn’t seem humanly possible. Unlike football or baseball where you watch from far away in a stadium, in golf you stand behind a little rope, just a few feet away and silently watch someone with great skill and precision smack a ball hundreds of feet down a fairway, then watch three other guys do the same thing, all landing their balls within a few feet of each other. They play great because they’re playing against great competitors.
That’s right, great, tough competitors can make you great, too. Don’t be afraid of them. Celebrate your greatness together, then fight to win.
Do you have a special club where you can celebrate just how terrific you are? If not, it’s time to start one. Or you can join mine by following me on Twitter – if you’re awesome enough I’ll consider following you back.
Or you could just shave your head.
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