The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are usually the ones who do —STEVE JOBS
I have been hearing a lot of “You are crazy” statements of late especially when I share my goal of running the ten Canadian Provinces in 2023 (Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador). I smile and say to myself: what a compliment. Most of the time, you are crazy comes with follow-up questions such as How would you have the time? Are you not scared of getting injured? Who is going to sponsor your trips? etc. I have been told you are crazy so much that now it does not have the effect it used to have on me, now I just say to myself: Let’s Go. I smile because the 10 Canadian marathon running goal is not even in the top five challenges that I have set for myself.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi
As British Nobel laureate, Rudyard Kipling advised in his very inspiring poem “IF” 1
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too.
Apple’s Iconic Think Different (Here is to the crazy ones) advertising campaign was a 1997 campaign created by the Los Angeles office of advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day. The campaign featured black-and-white footage of 17 iconic 20th-century personalities: Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon (with Yoko Ono), Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Edison, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog), Frank Lloyd Wright, and Pablo Picasso.
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do. 2
When it comes to making a positive difference in the world, change occurs only when someone, somewhere takes responsibility for changing himself or herself and takes action to help others change too. Without the actions of some person, change doesn’t happen. When it comes to changing our world, the first person transformed is the catalyst—the agent of change—and then it expands. That doesn’t happen unless it starts within an individual. 3
I’m not saying everyone should quit their job or burn the ships. But by focusing on what’s supposedly realistic, we can inadvertently trigger our natural impulse to avoid loss and end up accomplishing less than we otherwise might have. I’m not saying we should set goals that are crazy. I am saying we should set goals that stretch and challenge us. – Michael Hyatt. Your Best Year Ever
In Business as Unusual: The Triumph of Anita Roddick, the late founder of The Body Shop observed:
Entrepreneurs are all a little crazy. There is a fine line between an entrepreneur and a crazy person. Crazy people see and feel things that others don’t. An entrepreneur’s dream is often a kind of madness, and it is almost as isolating. What differentiates the entrepreneur from the crazy person is that the former gets other people to believe in his vision.
Meditations
Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Enlightenment
- Path of Enlightenment: The danger of bringing societal expectations such as achievement, accomplishment, and social status into our mindfulness practice. The path to enlightenment is not something we can accomplish like a job title or obtain like a trophy.
- Enlightenment is not the grand result of our meditation practice, it is also not an instantaneous breakthrough we finally have after which we float on a cloud for all of eternity. The irony is that: as soon as we focus on attaining enlightenment, we develop an attachment toward achieving that goal and that attachment makes it impossible to reach enlightenment.
Let go of the goal, simply live the path.
- We must remain open to meeting ourselves where we are and honoring that without fixating on any one experience or being close to others. Through mindfulness practice, we learn that awakening is a lifelong journey; it occurs in bits and pieces, fits and starts, as we come to understand our thoughts and emotions, ambitions and labels.
Awakening is not a thing. It is not a goal, not a concept. It is not something to be attained. It is a metamorphosis. If the caterpillar thinks about the butterfly it is to become, saying ‘And then I shall have wings and antennae,’ there will never be a butterfly. The caterpillar must accept its own disappearance in its transformation. When the marvelous butterfly takes wing, nothing of the caterpillar remains. ― Alejandro Jodorowsky
Daily Jay with Jay – Go Deeper, Get Closer
- Interview the people close to you: Context, Perspective, Relationship refresh, better understanding less judgment. When we assume we know everything about the people that we are closest to, it is a missed opportunity to strengthen our bonds.
- Invite close ones to talk about experiences that they might never bring up on their own. When we ask deep questions, we build deeper connections.
- Jeff Warren – State of Wonder
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king. ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Podcast
- 3 Effective Ways to Disconnect from Social Media & How to Optimize Your Morning Routine | On Purpose with Jay Shetty
- A desire is something you push, and a. calling is something that pulls you.
- You only learn new things about yourself until you do new things with yourself.
- Create new memories – If you don’t form new memories, you get stuck in the old.
- 5-4-3-2-1 method: 5 things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste.
- Spot – Stop – Swap
- Spot -When you notice yourself saying something negative to yourself, spot the pattern.
- Stop – Limit the time you spend with the people or place triggering that negative thought.
- Swap – Swap the negative thoughts with something positive.
- Grow together, especially on something you are not good at.
- Failure is unavoidable, it is an opportunity to grow and pivot.
All the best in your quest to get better. Don’t Settle: Live with Passion.
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