You know the old saying “You Are What You Eat?”, well, it’s true. Pizza, for example, is a type of food that is very revealing. We can understand a lot about a person by simply finding out what type of pizza they prefer.

Cheese Pizza
You are like a little kid (5-11 year old). Think about it, every time there is a birthday party for kids and pizza is ordered, what type is the pizza? cheese. Little kids aren’t into different tastes and textures. They’re boring, dull, and very picky, that’s why they like cheese pizza. Cheese pizza allows you to satisfy your inner-most desire for the boring, dull, bland life you really like to live.

Pepperoni Pizza
You are a “teeny bopper” (12-17 year old). There’s something mystical about teenagers. As they turn 12, they suddenly realize that their boring, dull cheese pizza is not cool. Pepperoni is where it’s at. Every party, get-together, special event where there’s pizza and teenagers IS GUARANTEED to have pepperoni pizza. Pepperoni pizza gives you the sense that you are cool, unique, above the immature crowd that just likes cheese pizza. Little do you know, however, that there are actually other toppings for pizza. However, because teenagers really AREN’T as mature as they think they are, they settle for just one topping, which is really just a half-step higher than boring cheese.

Supreme Pizza
You are an independent, and loving your new adult freedoms (18-25 year old). When a teenager hits 18 things change. They now have new rights, privileges and and freedoms as official adults. They now realize that there is more to life than high school and school social activities. Pizza, now, also has become liberated for you, and you realize that those other things that Pizza places offer are edible, and with your new freedoms, you liberate yourself from your old pizza prejudices.

Hawaiian Pizza (Ham [or Canadian Bacon] & Pineapple)
You’ve ventured into adulthood and settled in the boring track (26-35 year old). You’ve been an adult for some time now, and realized that your great life you imagined you would have as an adult has turned into “putting the kids to bed, and settling on down on the couch with the spouse to watch reruns of Seinfeld or just catching whatever is on TV [even though there's never really anything]“. You crave excitement, you desperately want some spark to your life. You attempt new things: gym membership, personal trainer, new hobbies, get new friends, learn a language, but all is in vain, you eventually (after about 3 months) give up and settle into your old ways gain. Hawaiian pizza gives you the sense that you are being exotic and different, that you think outside of the box, but in reality, you’re just plain old boring. You maybe put up a front that things are happening, that life is exciting, but in the end, you’ll find yourself dozing off in front of the TV at 9pm.

Specialty Pizzas
You are getting old (35+ year old). You’ve, by now, come to realize that life is short and that you’ve already spent over a third of your life being boring. It’s now or never for you. You venture into the realms of specialty pizzas, the grilled alfredo chicken, barbaque pork, taco pizza, chicago stuffed crust pizza, etc. You have to seize the day because the grim reaper is at the doors. Specialty pizzas is the attempt to finally break away from the boring mold of life. You quickly realize that specialty pizzas, however, chique they may be and may make you appear, are not as good as the pizzas you used to eat in the good old days. From now on you will be ordering seafood pizza, tomato basil & artichoke pizzas  but deep down you think to yourself “man, I would kill right now for a good old slice of pepperoni.” Or you may sneak away from work during lunch time to the food court and order by whispering “slice of cheese, please” to the attendant at the local Sbarro’s.

The next time you are about to order your regular pizza, take a moment and thing about the decision you’re about to make, as it will reveal a lot about you.

When starting out in a new area, you’re bound to get advice from all over the place. Family, friends, random people, supposed experts, how-to books and Web sites will all attempt to tell you “how to do it”. Whatever it is that you set out to do in this life, there is one phenomenon that remains the same. You are bound to achieve the most success by simply being yourself.

Don’t just settle for the “10 things to do” and “5 rules to always break” and “1 most whatever” as the de-facto standard to accomplishing greatness. Just remember, those who really have been accomplishing great things have blazed their own trails, dared to take a leap and try something new, something they felt they had inside and wanted to bring out to the world.

In a USNews online article, Curt Rosengren explains it as this:

When your work is out of alignment with who you are, it’s like having your wheels out of alignment and having to constantly put effort into adjusting the steering just so you can keep moving straight ahead.

On the other hand, when you are doing work that is aligned with who you are, you get energy from it. Not only do you not have to put energy into being who you’re not, the very act of doing that work energizes you. The resulting energy differential is huge.

It all boils down to this: you can never be anybody else half as well as you can be you. Keep that in mind as you plan the rest of your career, and you will discover a path that makes the most of your potential.

Whether your goal is business, educational, or personal, remember to just be yourself. “Copycat marketing” (just doing what others are doing) may work for a time, but it doesn’t set you apart from what else is out there. You are just one among a mass. Be yourself and you immediately have something unique to present.

There is a danger that when areas where there is repeated emergence without any significant unique additions being introduced, that the overall results, services, or products that are the outcome of the imputs will, without a doubt, diminish in its ability to satisfy. For example, think of the Web hosting industry. It’s a market that is extremely saturated and which has even more extremely tight margins for profit. Rarely are new, unique introductions made into the system. Without this, companies rely on simply upping the amount of the services given to its customers. In the end, it’s a fickle business because really, because it relies on the same tired approach to its product and services offering. I mean, does your every-day Web hosting customer really need 1 billion terabytes of storage space for their family Web site? Would they even be able to get that if they were to ever try and use it all? Is a hosting company that offers 60 Terabytes THAT much better than one that offers 59.9? At some point the tired outputs just don’t mean anything and we’re left wanting something more, something that’s actually satisfying.

It never hurts to pave the way by being unique, being yourself. There’s a popular Web viral video that has been seen over 6 million times by people online. “Everyday” by Noah Kalina, is genius. It is “marketing” at its best. The input is simple and unique. Yet, in the end, we’re left with admiration of ones dedication to a project. It’s a project that spurs conversation between people. You can see the Web site with the most up-to-date information here: http://everyday.noahkalina.com/

This week, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an interstellar agreement was reached making basketball the first Inter-Galactic sport. This was ratified by having a Harlem Globetrotter’s basketball launched into space aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, which is on its way to a rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA has taken pieces of historical and pop culture significance on an array of voyages in their 50-plus-year history. The Wright Flyer got only a few feet off the ground during its maiden flight in 1903, but wood and fabric from the Flyer was carried to the moon 66 years later by Apollo 11. A lightsaber prop used by Mark Hamill in his role as Luke Skywalker in “Return of the Jedi” was taken on Discovery’s trip to the International Space Station in 2007. And, of course, there are the two golf balls that astronaut Alan Shepard carried to the moon on Apollo 14 in 1971 and hit with a makeshift club.

“It is only fitting that the team that has seen more of the world than any other in history would have a presence beyond the stratosphere,” stated Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider. “This Globetrotters basketball will serve as an intergalactic symbol of accomplishment.”

With this most recent accomplishment, it is highly speculated that more teams will have its eyes on top NBA talent. Rumors quickly began to fly regarding a strategic move by the Mars Attackers (Galaxy – Independent League) to clear cap space room in anticipation of a run at Cleveland Caveliers guard LeBron James (Earth-NBA League). Additionally, shocking most NBA fans, the Utah Jazz (Earth-NBA League) received notice from Power Forward Carlos Boozer, that he has chosen to opt out of the final year of his contract and instead of agreeing to a previously rumored contract with the Detroit Pistons, will sign instead with the Mercury Firestorm (Galaxy – Independent League), the subject of the contract was undisclosed.