I thought they were Crazy...

How often have you heard someone describe something someone else wanted to do and say, “At first I thought they were crazy, but over time I realized it was really smart”? The point being: sometimes revolutionary actions are better. Sometimes change is the right thing to do. But it doesn’t always seem sensible. Sometimes, if you are convinced that something is true, you just have to do it – show others. Does this always work? No. But sometimes you have to do the crazy thing before you have evidence it is the best thing – when all you have is theory. Things like the iPhone. Until the iPhone, the potential success of a device with only one physical button and a massive touchscreen was dubious. Now it is a no brainer. I’m sure a lot of people thought Jobs was crazy. But now, they realize he was really smart.

Humans aren’t infallible. The prevailing way of doing things is especially liable to lose touch with sensibility, and yet seem sensible. Sometimes, you have to do something that seems senseless in order to break this trend and change things.

There is a beauty in this: Instead of saying that the prevailing trend is always right, or that the revolutionary is always right, I’m just saying humans are subject to incorrect prejudices. This means that sometimes, when doing something crazy, you could be up against the cynicism of other people for good reason – sometimes you are crazy and you need to come back down to earth. Other times, you are the one who is right, and society is crazy. It’s difficult to tell up front. And for most things, it is worth trying to change things – not for the sake of change, but for the sake of experience. As long as the person who believes in the change is liable for its success or failure.

The final point here is this: If you have an idea that seems crazy to most people – give consideration to why. But remember that at some point you will have to simply swim against the trend until the fruit of your efforts becomes evident.