• They Call You Crazy? You're on the Right Track

    by Alexander Becker on September 01, 2006 | Link

    Crazy? It passes the WOW test. WOW is invoked by true peak performance. Genius. Congratulations.

    Peak performance requires a mindset that is -- by definition -- incompatible with what everyone else thinks, let alone does. Sticking to common sense won't get you too far. It's the common in common sense that precludes it from being suitable for extraordinary achievement. Success is not a mass activity, why then should standard thinking and acting get you there? Average is an enemy of success.

    Research the exceptional, find the uncommon. A rule of thumb: If everyone does it -- in fact, if anyone does it -- it's not exceptional anymore. It's not for you.

    Do you mind what other people think about you? About what you do? Ignore them. Ignore everything that is not your current goal. If you completely focus on your one goal, there is no time nor are there any resources left to notice, observe, let alone worry about what your environment thinks about you. Dive into your project and only emerge when you are satisfied with the results. You may not be content, although you may be as close as you can be.

    Insane? Crazy? Strange? Weird? Did anyone ever use these or similar words in describing you?

    The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. The quote is used in a famous Apple ad. The essence is being crazy enough to think. Be prepared to be crazy -- not just a little bit -- but to an extent sufficient to make a real, a lasting impact.

    Boldness, audacity -- chutzpah, anyone? Doing things anyway? If these terms seem foreign to you, then sorry, nothing to see here, please move along...

    If the mindset required to change the world seems somehow unsympathetic to you, well, we are not chasing sympathy awards. We are not rejecting them either, though.

    Focus and concentrate all your insanity on one target, on your current project. Do not show off your crazy mind on each and every inappropriate occasion, reserve your chutzpah and your strange ways of seeing the world and dealing with things for the goal you are really after.

    Open the gates of your insane mind towards your goal. Do not hold anything back. Flood your way with everything you have. Deploy your whole arsenal of unique skills and strange habits and weird behavior and let the real you outperform your tamed, civilized version.

    It goes without saying that the prerequisite for all of the above is absolute competence, nothing less than pure excellence.

    Excellence alone is no guarantee to get you anywhere special. The recipe for outstanding achievement and incredible success is excellence + chutzpah. To stress the difference, here is the recipe for predictable, everyday success: competence + confidence. It's the difference between excellence and competence which it's all about. The other ingredient, chutzpah instead of confidence, is the key to broadcasting your message.

    Excellence + Chutzpah, that's the WOW formula, where excellence represents the production department and chutzpah does the marketing. WOW is about balancing the two.

    Do not ever settle for anything less than outrageous. Have your results pass the WOW test. Whatever it is, have it evoke a WOW.

    Understatement comes beyond all that.

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