I love being a little crazy and out there. There are fewer better rushes than proposes a wild hare idea and seeing what the team does with it. A little madness goes a long way.
Madness is how greatness often manifests. Proposing to build an iPhone was madness. Proposing the internet was madness. Building any brand new product is often madness. Traveling the world has a touch of madness. Quitting your job without a fall back is madness. Starting your own business is madness.
The world moves forward through madness. Progress is entropy. Madness and entropy are the stuff that make us smile.
This post came about because I watched the HBO documentary on Robin Williams titled “Come Inside my Mind.” It was a startling look at a life and career built on being different from everyone else – at being better at being funny from moment to moment than everyone else. It all stems from Robin Williams understanding the nature of madness. Adopting madness as his muse. Taking out the filter we all have that is intended to strip out madness.
Steve Jobs was a bit mad. Elon Musk certainly seems a bit mad. Reading through those sentences, it seems like a negative. But in fact, it’s the madness that gave them their bursts of inspiration and ability to push people further than the bounds of their imagination. Who could have dreamed of a reusable rocket, let alone turned it into reality? Only someone with a touch of madness.
I respect people who dream of audaciousness. I tend to be risk-averse when it comes to my own life but I strive to keep the madness in so that I am still taking chances. Hopefully, all of you seek to do the same.