Is craziness the template?

I have been thinking a lot on the recent success of new age entrepreneurs and that process took me back down to the industrial age when the real development of technology started happening.

There are numerous instances of people with ideas who converted them into products and services for the public good.  Amongst those that can be included are Graham Bell, Edison, Henry Ford, Johannes Gutenberg who invented the first printing press right upto Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg and a long list of individuals who have to their credit some invention or a creation that has help public lead a quality of life.  I do not want to exclude from list this, people who have help revolutionise the service industry as well and that includes the McDonalds, the KFC, PizzaHut, Dunking Donuts, Cafe Coffee Day, Uber, Ola, etc. because they have made good quality food and quality services accessible to us, in the vicinity of our homes.  I include every entrepreneur, every risk taker who has either failed or succeeded.  It is a different thing that a failed person never stood up again to rise like never before but they also deserve a mention.

Come to think of it, what were the top qualities that they possessed.  Yes, they definitely had a vision and a zeal to achieve it. But... Did they have the resources to achieve the success? Did they have the knowledge to acheive what they did? Did they have mentors to guide them in the process? Did they see it growing to where it is today? Did they have knowledge of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats like it is now taught in B-Schools)? Did they have Financial Planning skills? Did they have knowledge of goal settings and factors that should be considered whilst goal setting? Did they fear failure or have any other types of fears? Were they confident of their success? Were were they ready to bear the scorn of their family and closed relatives?

I imagine that they all had these shortcomings.  They all feared, every moment, every day.  Yes, they learnt something everyday and persevered with their goals.  Two things can happen to you every day.  You meet failures everyday and you get success everyday.  When you meet with one success, it eggs you on to do better.  But not all days are the same.  Sometimes, a small failure pulls you down relatively faster than a major success because we are trained to think like that.  However, successful people know that they have two options – either to learn from the failures and keep going or to give up completely.  Those that give up at a few obstacles are weak hearted.  That alone is not the factor that deters them from going further.  There are constraints like staring at complete bankruptcy after having invested everything that they had.  They stare at the sad fate of hunger, poverty, shame, having to live with that past and so many other aspects. Very rarely you have friends that support you during such times.  No body supports you with their money during your downward spiral.  Everyone wants to be with the winner.

When we analyse how people overcame their miseries to emerge successful, there is just one trait that tops the chart and that is craziness.  When you have that crazy streak of mind that is full of self-confidence and belief in their work that they are able to see beyond the immediate shortcoming.  Bring the “Law of Attraction” into the picture and you have the complete image of a success that pulls all the universe’s resources and help at your disposal.  Craziness is not something that is short-lived.  It is a sustaied effort that keeps you going ahead, no matter the size of the hurdles.  Craziness is the ability that allows the person so see, even at the begining of the tune, the light that is far ahead in the tunnel.  It is an imaginary process and not everybody is able to relate it.  Not everyone is blessed to visualise that.  We all are equally gifted with such abilities but not all people are able to invoke them at the right time to become great.  The same logic applies to eternal lovers like Romeo and Juliet, Laila and Majnu, Shreen & Farhat and so many others who had vision for their love.  Everyone has a foresight about something or the other.  Not may are themselves convinced about them.  Only a handful of people have a strong conviction about their vision and the road-map that leads them to success.

Can you develop this streak of craziness?  Do you aleady have this streak of craziness? Can anybody help you identify this attribute? I am not too sure if there are any ready made answers to the above.

Can you learn this from others? – Yes and No.  No matter how much classroom theory lectures you attend to learn this, you will probably not learn unless you have a strong conviction about a story or an idea or a vision.  But yes, if you have an idea, however, small and you mentally prepare yourself by observing their behavioural pattern, then surely, you can imbibe those habits and maybe even do better.  But this calls for a dedicated pursuit, close study, investment of time and resources. 

And lastly, do not aim to copy but seek inspiration.

Sarfaraz Lakhani