NICHE (n.) – a place or position suitable or appropriate for a person or thing; a distinct segment of a market.

NICHE will be my word of the year for 2018, as in if you were just going “dabble” in something, find or make your NICHE & excel to stand out.

I’ve done this for many years now, but it will be accentuated in 2018 as I am beginning to get traction on my latest set of interests, and further developing some longer, stronger, passions in life. How I get myself more level with those who dedicate more time, effort and/or resources, possibly with more talent, is to find, or make, a niche in which I can excel to stand out. Past examples in my life include:

• Bus racing for my running that went viral a few summers ago;
• Making cosplay inspired fashion for everyday wear instead of special occasions;
• Taking my graphic design vision to fashion for a clean, but distinct and uncommon look;
• Taking my unfashionable classical poetry writing skills to writing song lyrics;
• Taking my basic guitar (and soon to be piano) skills into writing and arranging songs;
• Specific things this blog focused on over the years, mostly somehow relating to digitized or digital content;
• Learning specific power software like Tableau to give me an edge in data analytics in addition to how creatively I used Excel; among others.

In 2018, I’ll be showing my chosen niches in origami, drawing, painting, more sewing and fashion, some programming and software skills, and who knows what else?

Frame it another way, to everything you do, ask yourself, what will you bring to the game? Metaphorically speaking, if you want to stand out and/or make a difference. Implied answers are something more, different, new, unique, rare, etc. Those are generally the only answers I accept for myself. I give myself a lot of tough love. No pansy unconditional crap among me, myself and I to each other! 🙂

Click here to see other examples of niche I have embraced or created in things I do in 2018.