FEBRUARY 28, 2021

“You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.”

—Henry Rollins

Take a blank sheet of paper and write your answer to the question below with a Yes or a No, and sign it.

What did you write down? Most probably, you said Yes and signed the sheet. But did you see the “T&C Apply” written right next to the question? Well, now it is of no use because you already signed up to live the best life. However, you need to know what Terms and Conditions are applicable because they will significantly influence your life. Get ready!

There are two sides to this: one good and one bad. Let’s start with the bad one. So, the bad news is that you signed up for a deal with some terms and conditions you don’t know. And the good news is that there is only one simple instruction that you need to follow.

The only term or condition for you is:

1. You must be the craziest person you know.

I know this sounds weird; let me explain.

Why is being crazy good for you?

All of us want to live the best life. All of us want to live happily, and we want to learn how to manifest our dreams. All of this is achievable, but what stops us from bringing it into reality is that we don’t dream big enough. Our environment and our society are very well established and have certain limits. Our mind has been conditioned to believe that anything outside this little realm is “unachievable”, limiting our dreams to these boundaries. Whenever we try to think out of this box, we shun that thought, thinking that it is impossible. Anything outside this box seems “crazy”.

To be different and truly live the best life, you need to think out of this box because we all can agree that most people don’t live the best life. So, thinking like them won’t lead you, me, or anyone anywhere.

But if we look at the progress we have made in the past two centuries, it would not have been possible if people did not think out of the box, and thus, came up with new ideas, right? Yes, that is true. Some people dare to think differently and follow their ideas; when they become successful, they push our society forward. These are the people who lead the best lives because they end up doing what they love and use their creativity to the fullest.

The truth is that craziness doesn’t exist; ambition does. Our society and our environment have conditioned us to believe that going beyond limits is impossible. That is why the people around us consider our ambitious ideas to be crazy. Sometimes the people around us explicitly reject our ideas and disregard them. That is when we need to change our perspective a little and smile. We should be happy if someone classifies us or our ideas as crazy – it means that someday, we will push our society’s limits forward and bring some significant change! All you need to remember is that ambitious people are considered to be crazy. So, feel proud about being crazy because you are about to change the world! That’s something we should learn from Apple.

As we know today, Apple is one of the world’s most renowned technology company that produces premium phones and laptops that have great standards. But it wasn’t all rosy as it is today.

Apple’s most famous co-founder, Steve Jobs, was forcibly removed from Apple in 1985. When he returned to Apple in 1996, the company wasn’t performing very well as compared to its competition. Jobs wanted to return to the qualities that created Apple and wanted the company’s customers to know that Apple stood by those qualities that made it great in the first place. That’s when Apple launched its historic “Think Different” ad campaign in 1997 that completely changed the company’s trajectory. Ironically, the one-minute and ten-second “Think Different” ad, one of the most influential ones created by Apple, did not advertise any product! It empathized with the customers and impacted them to live the best life, which created an inexplicable emotional connection that formed thereafter. Read it below (you can also watch the ad on YouTube by clicking here)!

“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 quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may 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.”

Always remember the last line.

How to manifest dreams and be crazy?

Now that you feel proud of being crazy, it is time to learn how to manifest dreams and live a great life. And the first step towards that is knowing what the dream is! Apple had the vision of creating technology that helped people think differently and realize their dreams – that is what Apple has been doing. And that is what you need to do. You need to break the barrier and let all of your crazy ideas fall out. Be open to those ideas and desires and write them down so that you remember them. If you live in an ordinary house in a normal city right now, and you have the thought of owning a flat in the Burj Khalifa one day, then write that thought down, no matter how crazy it may seem. If you feel that you can solve a big problem in your country and turn it into a profitable venture, write that idea down and feel proud about it being crazy.

The second thing you need to do is connect your dreams and segregate them into things you want to do and things you want to have. A house in a luxurious neighborhood, an expensive car, the latest phone, the latest laptop are all the things you wish to have. Building a startup, bungee jumping, climbing to the top of Mount Everest, driving across continents, or swimming in a frozen river in Russia with a Hollywood singer are the things you wish to do. After you have created this segregation on a sheet of paper, you need to pick up one CRAZY idea that will help you generate the resources you may need to fulfill your other dreams. If you want to write books and build a startup around helping novice authors market their books well, you can merge these two ideas to build your credibility in the field and fulfill your passions that will help you fulfill other dreams that you may have. When you pick your dreams and prioritize them, keep the last line from the “Think Different” ad in your mind. Dream big because only then will you achieve and succeed big.

Then, you need to take action towards your crazy ambitions, and that is how you manifest your dreams! Take one step at a time, and you will achieve success! When I started my writing journey in July 2019, I never thought that I would end up penning down a 200-page book in 15 days! All I did was let my imagination run wild and allow it to come up with a crazy idea! I had heard accounts of many people who took years to write and publish a book. But my idea was crazy and different. At the beginning of October last year, when I did not even know the subject of my book, I set a goal of publishing my book by 1^st December 2020. According to traditional ideas and approaches around writing and publishing a book, this was crazy, and that is what I enjoyed the most about it! I involved myself in the writing process and was doing what I loved, and that is how I kept on writing and penned down around 40000 words in 15 days while attending online school and studying through most of my day. And guess what? I published my book on 29^th November 2020, two days before the deadline!

This is the importance of picking up a crazy idea; you allow yourself to change the world. And that’s what I did too! All through the forty-five-day process of writing this book to inspire people, I did not know that I was setting a world record! After some days of publishing my book, I researched and found out that I was the youngest non-fiction self-published author in the world. I was able to create something new in the world! All I did was become crazy and ambitious enough to follow wild ideas!

All I want you to know is that if I can set a world record and pen down a book in 15 days just by following an ambitious idea at the age of fourteen, then you can do even more incredible and better things! Follow your ideas, and you will change the world!

Thank you so much for taking out time to read this post! I hope that now you will always smile and feel proud when someone says that you are crazy! Share your crazy idea in the comments below, and let’s see if we can build a bank of crazy ideas in this comment box!

Once again, thank you very much for reading!

Partnering in your success, craziness, and growth,
Prabhsimrat