Extraordinary vs Ordinary

It was my wedding anniversary on the weekend and as we are on the 'evens' year it was my turn to organise. (Not only do I love a list but I love a system!) So I organised a romantic weekend in the city at the Observatory Hotel with dinner at Galileo restaurant. All very swish.

Now if you've been keeping up (or viewed the photo with my first blog) you'll know I love an excuse to get dressed up. So of course it was a fantastic excuse to buy a red, corseted Alex Perry number. Very glamorous. Also a little bit over the top - but that has never really bothered me before, so why start now!

Until the week before the anniversary that is when I tried on the dress to make sure it all worked. We girls have a lot to organise- the dress, the shoes, the bag, the jewellery, the hair. As you'd expect I rarely wing it and love a try-on before the big day.

That's when I realised my dress was extraordinary.

Now I knew this prior to trying it on - I mean it is a red, satin, corseted Alex Perry number with three layers on the skirt (did I miss that bit out before?) Not the kind of thing you'd pop down to the shops in. But standing in my wardrobe, in my dress I knew it would be extraordinary. I'm talking about the dress, not me - trust me, this dress was that good.

So what did I do? I grabbed a safe little black dress and tried that on instead, styled it up and figured I would take it with me as a back-up. Just in case I couldn't face the 'extraordinary' dress.

Ridiculous isn't it? Firstly I'm sure most men are exhausted at this point but what is ridiculous is to buy the most fabulous dress and then not want to wear it because it's too fabulous. Did I miss something here?

What occurred to me that night though is that my stuggle is one that many business owners go through. Not to choose between dresses but to choose between being safe or being extraordinary. You might think that's a crazy thing to say - of course business owners would want to be extraordinary... but do they really? As Australians I think we're taught to cut tall poppies down. To stay just below the stellar line and fit in. Being extraordinary means putting yourself out there, taking a risk, having the spotlight shine on you and what you're doing. It might mean having to look at areas of your business that you're not comortable with like budgets or business plans, branding or systems. Or telling people what you want to do and being held accountable.

In the end I wore my ridiculously fantastic dress. My husband was pleasantly surprised (but also a little shocked) when he saw me. But trust me, he'll remember that dress.

What about you and your business? Are you being safe or are you ready to try being extraordinary?