In Today’s World, Being Quietly Real Is a Ticket to Standing Out

In an extroverted culture that often gravitates toward yelling and screaming, standing out can be as simple as being your quiet, real self.

Several years back, my family and I had the good fortune to spend a couple of eye-opening days in Paris.

Time was short, and we had a lot of ground to cover, so our first order of business there was learning to navigate the Métro subway system.

With the possible exception of using one’s feet, there is no better way to get around Paris than the Métro.

The six of us each ended up buying two-day Métro passes so that we could take unlimited rides.

Thus, over the course of a Saturday and Sunday, we were able to see the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Musée Rodin, the Tour Eiffel, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, and so much more.

But Métro tickets, it turns out, are—or at least can be—much more than transportation.

In the right hands, they can be inspiration, too.

Standing Out in the Crowd

I can vaguely remember now that the first time we got off the train, and every other time thereafter, the ground around us was littered with expired Métro tickets.

I didn’t really notice them at the time, other than to note that they were there, and in great numbers.

It seemed, sad to say, normal. Unremarkable.

But then we met Peter Eichner, one of the dozens of talented artists who routinely set up small booths along the river Seine to peddle their various wares.

All of the vendors this day were refreshingly low-key in their approach to selling. Which is to say that they simply stood or sat silently and let us look at their offerings.

But a small crowd had gathered in front of Eichner’s booth—not 
because he was screaming like a carnival barker but precisely because he was not.

He was simply sharing a story, calmly and earnestly.

And what a story it was, and is.

“Anything Can Be a Canvas”

For more than 20 years, Eichner had been painting beautiful scenes on perhaps the unlikeliest medium I’ve ever laid eyes upon.

Expired Métro tickets.

Where I and thousands of others would see trash, if we saw anything at all, Peter Eichner would see potential.

Albeit potential with a black swipe bar running across it.

“Anything can be a canvas,” he said to us during our visit, as if he was reaffirming it for himself.

Moreover, he told us, by repurposing a seemingly endless supply of old Métro tickets, he made a small but significant dent in both cleaning up the earth right in front of him and leaving the rest of the earth slightly better than he found it.

Being Yourself Is Standing Out

Eichner wasn’t giving his art away, of course. He was still trying to make money, as were all the other artists along the Seine that day.

But Eichner’s work sold itself. To us and several others.

It stood out because Eichner himself stood out.

And he himself stood out not only for his talent and creativity, but also for his sincerity and authenticity.

How, then, can you stand out—especially as an introvert—in a world that is too often awash in baloney, bluster, and seemingly endless battles for attention?

Peter Eichner has just the ticket for you.

Be quietly real.