“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” ~ Steve Jobs
I watched a Netflix documentary about the great Steve Jobs recently. He advised people to stay hungry and to stay foolish.
If you are reading this post on your phone, a man deemed crazy by many played a chief role in creating your phone: Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs’ craziness spanned nearly four decade’s worth of creating conveniences like the iPhone, iPod and iMac. He saw things most humans could not understand. People deem visionaries as being crazy and foolish because fear cannot see genius. Fear sees reckless.
I guarantee the individual who conceived the idea of your laptop seemed crazy to most humans. How about your car? Many believed Henry Ford to be delusional. People lived in a world of horse drawn carriages, not horse power. I will fly from Oman to Turkey soon. I have the crazy Wright Brothers to thank for covering 2,000 miles in six hours, cruising comfortably some 30,000 feet above land.
Every convenience you experience popped up in the mind of someone most people deemed as being a bit off.
Society adds labels like “genius” or ‘visionary” decades after the initial idea seed takes root. A few brilliant, understanding folks may see genius decades early but the general public is usually 10 or 20 years late to the party.
Never hold back because you fear being labeled as a kook. Your idea may be the next form of convenience that comforts humanity. Or maybe your brilliant idea will affect people on a lesser but equally important scale. @RyanBiddulph (Click to Tweet!)
I help people become professional bloggers. One of my readers left behind his 9-5 life in England to travel Southeast Asia as a happy digital nomad who runs multiple, thriving online businesses. He told me how my blog helped inspire him to make the jump from unhappy employee to fun-loving entrepreneur.
Some people believed I was nuts to circle the globe as a pro blogger. Most humans sit so deeply entrenched in their comfort zone of fear that anybody who challenges their fears seems a nut job, crazy or outright reckless. My allegedly crazy decision brought me great happiness and fulfillment in helping a new generation of aspiring bloggers to become full time pros.
Every convenience you experience now began as an idea seed in the mind of a driven, generous human being who some people perceived to be loony. Challenge the status quo enough. You will see what I mean.
Fear of Criticism
Overcoming the fear of criticism helps you leave the judgmental crowd behind so you are free to live your dream life.
Follow these tips to defeat the fear of criticism, aka, the fear of being labeled as crazy:
- spend time daily managing your energy through meditation, prayer, deep yin yoga and/or exercise
- surround yourself with loving people who see your genius, not your craziness
- feast on biographies of visionaries like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Bill Gates
- Look forward, not behind
- Fall so deeply in love with your dream that anybody not resonant with your vision quickly disappears from your life
I’m still hungry 10 years after retiring to a life of island hopping through smart blogging.
I’m still foolish too.
Are you with me?
Here’s to all the crazies out there who had a profound effect on humanity, one kooky idea at a time.
Ryan Biddulph is a blogger, author and world traveler who’s been featured on Richard Branson’s Virgin Blog, Forbes, Fox News, Entrepreneur, Positively Positive, Life Hack, John Chow Dot Com and Neil Patel Dot Com. He has written and self-published 126 bite-sized eBooks on Amazon. Ryan can help you build a successful blog at Blogging From Paradise.
Image courtesy of Moon.
