During Apple’s “Think Different” advertising campaign launched in 1997, Steve Jobs unveiled some of the most powerful words that can make you highly successful.
“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 are not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify them or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things.
They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as crazy, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was a highly determined man with an uncanny foresight that brought the Apple revolution to life. His insights left the world with breakthrough inventions that set the pace for others in the world of computing. But he summed up his ingenuity and creativity in a single quote about “the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world.”
While his words in this quote were majorly used for Apple’s Think Different campaign, the significance goes beyond that. Behind those words lies the force to propel every changemaker and achiever to believe, because until you believe, you can’t make it happen.
Meaning of Jobs’ Words About the Crazy Ones
The crazy ones are the non-conformers who see opportunities instead of challenges. These are the outliers, the visionaries, and those who think differently from everyone else.
You may be wondering, how does everyone else think that makes the crazy ones different?
There are over 7.8 billion people on the planet with about 149-million-square-kilometer landmass. To think that you can change such a large expanse of the world is itself a ridiculous belief, at least to the rest of us. Crazily, we have had people who not only changed the world but left a dent in it, of which Steve Jobs is a typical example.
Each of us has a specific purpose and contribution to the world. We not only have to find that purpose but also have to stay crazy enough to carry it out. While the world might seem like a big place, if you are crazy enough as Jobs said, you can change the world in the most remarkable way.
How to Be Crazy Enough to Change the World
On returning to Apple as the interim CEO, Jobs launched the Think Different campaign to re-visit the company’s core beliefs and formulate a clear statement of what the company stood for. Alongside, he primed the general public on what to expect, and to portray its products as innovative and unorthodox, and it worked.
Today, we have seen Apple’s revolutionary products, the iPhone, MacBook, iPad, and their cutting-edge accessories. While this simple mind shift made all these happen, here are ways you can apply this to yourself too.
1. Leave the crowd
Though the majority wins the vote, the poll of being successful takes an exception. Being among the majority does not come close to the success mark.
Out of the billions of people in the world, think of the few people who are making a remarkable impact in the world and tell yourself “I will be among them”. Having the mindset of going with the crowd will make you complacent and comfortable where you currently are, but when you challenge yourself to be at the top, you will be surprised at what a great thing you can achieve.
That is what Jobs meant when he talked about those who are not fond of the rules or respect the status quo. Every time, the crowd says, “It is impossible” until one crazy person comes to say, “No, it isn’t. It is possible”.
2. Dream big
How can you change the world? Sometimes even when you want to, it can be very scary. “What if I don’t succeed”, you may ask. “What will people say if I fail?”
The crazy ones don’t allow other people’s opinions to determine the extent of their dreams because they understand that the limit of a man is defined by the size of his dreams. No matter how crazy your ideas seem, you have to be crazy enough to accept them and bring them alive.
While he wasn’t talking about the rebels, vagabonds, or troublemakers, he sees the crazy ones as those who do not let anything come in their way of creating change in the world at large.
3. Break your limitation mindset
The mindset of success is the one that says “I can”. In other words, your mind is the only limitation you have, not necessarily what other people say or what happens in your surroundings. Challenges might abound but with the no-limit mindset, you are invincible.
Think of the people in the world who are causing enormous change, one thing you can see in all of them is that mindset of possibility.
Whether someone or some people have done mighty things before, you can still do your own. Don’t let anything limit you from touching the world the way only you can. Crazily, the key is to start and keep going.
4. Be self-motivated
I once said, “No one can motivate you better than yourself”. This is because even when external motivations, incentives, encouragements, and motivational talks, can largely excite you to make a change, you need to willfully accept them as a motivation before they can work on you.
Also, there are going to be more times when no one encourages you, or times when some actually discourages you. This means you are going to have to motivate yourself most of the time. This is why the crazy ones who change the world shift their focus to self-motivation. Whether or not motivation comes, they keep going.
In Jobs’ words, you may quote or disagree with them, you may glorify or vilify them, and whichever you do, none of that gets in the way of their dreams.
5. Break out of routines
Every one of us starts with a full drive to conquer the world until life begins to happen to us. When we get our dreams and hopes dashed to the ground, we begin to consider giving up on them altogether.
Eventually, we accept the routine of birth to death, which is a cycle of mediocrity that makes people who are stuck in it simply ‘survive’ from one day to another until they eventually die. They don’t have any plans for the future. Unfortunately, this is a routine many people have been forced to accept.
To be crazy enough to change the world, you first have to be crazy enough to accept that you can. No matter what life has thrown at you, get back and fight your way up to your dreams, hopes, ambitions, and goals. If you keep pushing, you will not only get there but also would have touched the whole world in a way you never thought you could.
6. Selflessness
Changing the world directly requires a good dose of selflessness. You need to go from thinking about yourself alone to thinking about other people in the world. This mindset can keep you more motivated and ambitious throughout your life.
Secondly, changing the world is not only about achieving financial success, creating inventions, and bringing innovations. It is also about showing kindness to the person next door. You never can tell how much change we can bring to the world if we share kindness and love with everyone around us.
People might wound your heart, and pour acid on your sore wounds but it takes one who is crazy enough to make a change to ignore and do things differently.
Here’s to the crazy ones…
Here, we will briefly explore a few things to bear in mind the moment you accept being crazy enough.
- You might be labeled “the misfits”, “the rebels”, or “the square pegs to the round holes” but you must remain resilient and hopeful in what you believe.
- The unwritten rules which limit other people do not apply to you. The crazy ones find a way to break loose.
- Impossibility is nothing, and mediocrity is stupid.
- Though the world might vilify, hate, or condemn you, when you change things (which is inevitable if you keep being crazy enough), they will never ignore you.
The crazy ones are not fond of rules and have no respect for the status quo of mediocrity. They are magnetic, in that “You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify them or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things”. Eventually, they leave their mark on the universe.
The World Needs More Crazy People
Apple’s ‘Think Different’ campaign succeeded in re-orienting the entire team’s ideology about the company, we can extend this to ourselves and those we work with. Achieving success requires each and every one of us to be the crazy ones who think that we can change the world because we actually do.
While that campaign may have ended a long time ago, the world needs more crazy people. Daily, we see people who are giving up on their dreams and taking hold of that prevalent culture of mediocrity. It is time to awake from the slumber because the world needs you, and right now.
Despite what ordeals you may have faced or the challenges you may be going through now, you have to hold on and find ways to turn them into opportunities to change your life and the world around you. While the number goes down by the minute, the world needs more crazy people who believe they can change it.
Final words
Becoming crazy enough to think you can change the world is like swimming against the tide. But while others does not conventionally think so, you are the kind the world needs the most.
The world does not need conformers; it already has enough. It needs people who can make a difference in their sphere, and the world at large. And if Steve Jobs can do it, you too can do it and even more. You just have to be crazy enough to believe that you can.
If if helps you, share with me in the comments how you have overcome a major limitation recently. Reflecting on your victories can give you more strength to go on.
