How can you be normal yet extraordinary?

As Max Lucardo correctly observed, “A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” Most of us want to be normal enough to fit in comfortably with our neighbors and coworkers. We’d like to think we’re a normal guy or gal.

At the same time, many of us want to be extraordinarily successful at one or more of our life’s activities. Have you reconciled both wishes? How do you personally attempt to resolve the tension between a wish to be normal and a wish to be abnormally good—to succeed above and beyond the norm?