Many people struggle throughout their lives, unable to identify the source of great inner existential discontent. No matter their material comfort or good fortune, they cannot escape the idea that they do not live the lives they ought to. They are not in environments that support their deepest personal growth and development. They are not the people they feel they are meant to be, and the world never works the way they know it could.

Every day, exceptional minds like these begin to suspect that the way they operate is different than the norm. They realize early on that they have profound capacities for original insight, feeling, action, choice, and meaning. But without mentoring guidance or a sense of social belonging, they feel lost—alone and alienated in their individuality.

What can we do to better understand the hidden parts of ourselves, to prevent our uncommon personal growth and development from becoming bridled by pressures toward the conventional? How can we learn to identify and embody the heroic values that matter most to us? The answer lies in deep personal inquiry about the shared existential strengths and limitations that define us, including how to apply them to our self-improvement in an incompatible world.

The Heroic and Exceptional Minority is an audacious call to self-development for men, women, and teens plagued by mythological doubt, who feel stuck in a mediocre environment and an unheroic era. Its premise is timeless, clear, and simple: The only way to understand oneself, realize our potential, and change the world for the better is to embrace who and what we really are.