Why You Need To Become Really Good At Being Unreasonable
One of my favorite quotes it this.
“Reasonable men adjust themselves to their environment. Unreasonable men attempt to change their environment to suit themselves. Therefore, all progress is the work of unreasonable men.” – George Bernard Shaw
Another old one of mine is this.
“ I have observed that those that can truly make up their own mind in the face of advice from others to the contrary and even those in league with their original thought and yet own the decision and its outcome, good, bad, or indifferent, are the only ones that end up owning themselves. They are also the only ones that lead truly great lives and in the end, make a difference for everyone, including themselves, detractors and supporters alike.” – Easy Anderson
As with most of my posts, this comes about from a couple of recent conversations that I have had this past week. I know that a point is is important enough to write about when I am reminded of it from several different tangential angles at the same time. So, it happened with this one.
The first time it came up last week was from one of my clients and we were talking about productivity and sales goals. We were discussing sticking with his guns on an ad campaign being done by “experts”. Turns out he was right and they were wrong. He came to his own conclusions in spite of the advice he was getting. Although he would have still could have lived with the outcome if it had not worked out the way he thought it would.
The other tangent that it came from was from one of my best new friends of mine that made a decision even though it came about in a highly charged atmosphere of being pressured by good friends and even some family members. They made a conscious decision to step up to the plate and come the their own conclusions and live with the results. Having some inside knowledge, this too was another decision that will bear positive friend for a long time to come for them. But, regardless, they were prepared to make up their own mind in spite of some fierce opposition to the contrary and live with those consequences.
Continue reading How Being Unreasonable Brings Success
