Lifestyle

The Connection Between The People The World Deems Insane And Those Who Change The World

by Paul Hudson
Stocksy

How do you change the world? Good question. Why would you want to change the world? Well… Why wouldn’t you?

Failing to create change is accepting things as they are, accepting the world as it is. There isn’t a person in the world who doesn’t believe change can be made for the better – not a single one. However, most people never manage to make a dent in what is the history of life.

Most individuals accept circumstances for what they are and do their best to make the most out of what is given to them, never creating anything or taking anything for themselves. This is a very sad way to live. It’s accepting that you are powerless, that this life isn’t yours, but rather a life being lived for you.

Change for the better can be created. Unfortunately, so can change for the worse. Putting aside the fact that outcomes of actions are never guaranteed, there are many individuals who aim to make the world a worse place.

These are unstable individuals who either have a confused notion of right and wrong or are literally insane. The truth is, insanity is basically what you need in order to create significant change.

The bigger the change you attempt to create, the wider its reach, the deeper its roots, the more insane you have to be to achieve it. But you don’t have to literally be crazy… just slightly off your rocker.

The only ones who change the world are those who believe themselves capable of doing so. Most would call this naivety. I believe this to be a clearer understanding of the way the world works.

We each influence and create change on a daily basis. Change is inevitable; it’s the lapse of time. With time comes change and because time cannot be stopped, neither can change. What matters is what that change will bring.

Most people are taught to believe they have limits. They are taught to believe that following the status quo and aiming for stable comfort is the best road to take.

They tell you you’re better off leaving greatness for those who are better equipped for it. Now tell me this: Do you honestly believe that any great individual was told when they were younger that they would become a great individual?

Parents aside, has the system inspired and taught individuals to reach for the stars, reach for the seemingly impossible? Of course not.

We’re taught to survive, not flourish. It’s only those “naïve” enough to believe in themselves, to believe they can be great – they can create great change – who end up living a life worth living. Call it naivety if you like, but I believe this to be clarity.

Changing the world requires living in the world you wish to create before you actually create it. Yes, you read right. Before you create change, you have to live that change.

You have to accept the reality as the reality now, not the reality that may one day exist in the future. Of course, accepting that cancer has been cured when it hasn’t won’t do you much good, but believing the cure is available right now and you just have to find it, is the only way of ever finding it.

In order to change the world, you have to believe that all the tools you need to change the world, as well as the circumstances necessary to achieve such a goal, are all readily available to you.

This often forces you to ignore certain "truths" and believe others. People call this a distortion field, accepting certain things as fact when they have yet to become fact. Truth is subjective. Choose your truths carefully, build your own reality and then live in it.

You need to live the change, embody the change, before you can spread the change. Change has to start somewhere and it may as well start with you.

The most important tool in your arsenal is intelligence. Intelligence is not something that can be overlooked. Without it, a person can’t so much as make something of him or herself, not even touching the surface of making a greater impact.

The smarter you are, the more likely it is you will be successful. However, intelligence alone is not enough -- we’ll get to that later.

But you do need to be smart in order to create change. Creating change is no easy task; there are a ton of variables that go into an end result. All of these variables must be factored into the equation. Change is just that: an equation, a very complex equation.

The more variables you have a clear understanding of, the better your knowledge of how these variables interact and affect one another, the more likely you are to create the change you wish to see.

Detailed knowledge of what you are working with is pertinent to being successful in creating change. If you don’t know the game you are playing, then you are going to lose.

Lastly, you need perseverance. What exactly is perseverance? Unlike common belief, perseverance isn’t working at something endlessly until the result is achieved. Why?

Such blind repetition is useless. As I mentioned before, we live in a reality that adheres to the laws of time; things are always moving and always changing. Perseverance isn’t picking a task and following it through until the end.

Perseverance is never giving up or losing focus of your dreams while using your knowledge and intelligence to rapidly navigate through the sea of chaos that is the reality we live in. There is always more than one way to achieve a desired result – just as there is more than one reality.

Properly persevering requires you to stay motivated, stay focused and stay hungry, while changing paths when paths need to be changed.

Most individuals fail at changing the world because they are too afraid to give up on a direction taken and to start fresh. Starting fresh is still persevering, as long as the end goal remains the same.

What matters isn’t how you get to where you want to go, how you create the change you want to see, as long as you do create the change you want to see.

Top Photo Courtesy: Blue Devil Tumblr