STOP YOURSELF RIGHT THERE!

If you ever find yourself saying, ‘that’s just the way it is’ or ‘that’s just how it’s done’ STOP yourself right there!? Now repeat that statement to yourself until you are blue in the face, repeat it to your 5 year old self, 12 year old self, 18 year old self and any self you possessed that called BULLSHIT on the status quo.? Rise up and rebel against this statement, it bleeds of idleness, passivity and the perfunctory.? ?

Ideally you see yourself as a rebel with a cause, a positive force, an idea person, an OUTLIER. (outlier | ?out?lī(?)r : a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set) Malcolm Gladwell effectively made this word a proactive part of modern vernacular. In the book titled ‘OUTLIERS’, Gladwell profiles unorthodox thinkers and doers like Gates and Jobs, thus offering the would be trendsetter a poster child for their aspirations and desires. Those who long to paint outside the lines, to not ‘just get in line’, those who long to be proactive no matter the results. I know when I read the book I felt a kinship to these nonconformists, I now have role models to refer to, to stand with, as I proposed ‘new’ ideas and buck the proverbial system.?

I continued to add to that list or role models with such bohemians as Sir Richard Branson, Sara Blakely, Ava DuVernay and Ryan Reynolds.? I know, for a fact, I wouldn’t be where I have gone and where I am, had I accepted ‘that’s the way it’s done’.? I would probably be stuck in NJ with a job I hated, beaten down, with my creativity and voice crushed by the rocks of the status quo. That is not to say that the status quo will not do all it can to crush you as you question it, while you propose a different or better way. I have gone head to head with the system a few times, I still face uphill battles that my morals, soul and aspirations refuse to accept as ‘just the way it is’.? Personally, I have, as well, sacrificed to make changes for the better, because I just couldn’t accept what was the status quo.?

In an ideal situation you can create your own better way, sometimes your dream to change ‘the way it is’ can be a solo act. However, as things go, that solo act will eventually converge with the status quo. You may reference the resistance Sir Richard Branson experienced bringing Virgin Airlines to Heathrow, going toe to toe with The Government, the Airport and British Airways. After reading that story, you may soon realize the change you long to make is child's play, but nonetheless you will be going out on a ledge for your unconventional ideas. ?

But here is the catch, when you find your heroes or you become one, be it big or small, notice how the ‘status quo’ has now accepted the radical thought, how the system embraces it. How the conformists change their ways to encapsulate the ‘original’, eventually homogenizing this ‘new idea or concept’ adopting it and regurgitating a reverse engineered formula. Eventually making that new and radical idea the status quo.? Now don’t get me wrong, there are many times when this is fantastic, the reason new laws are written is because someone, somewhere calls bullshit on the existing law. We can apply this to the medical profession on through to human relations. Bucking the system in a productive and inclusive way is and should be a benefit for ALL involved, even those who profess ‘that’s just the way it is’.?

On a Hollywood note, one may take notice of the rebel heroes who have drastically changed the 'Hollywood System' inclusive of independent cinema in the late 60's through to Spielberg, Lucas and Cameron with the Blockbuster, Tarrantino, Rodriguez, Boyle and Smith with the return of Independent Cinema and (Nolan squeezes in here somewhere) now probably more recently with The Duplass Brothers. Almost all of these rebels have a common thread. Do you know what that thread is? How many successful big studio Hollywood produced films celebrate the 'outlier' or the rebel, 'Erin Brockovich', 'Suits', 'Rocky', 'Star Wars'... the list goes on.

Ideally, for all involved, it would be those who are in decision making roles who would either embrace the change or embrace the Outlier, or both. Perhaps that rebel will find its co-champion and the co-champion will see the worth in taking on the system and shaking the tree of the status quo shoulder to shoulder with the freethinker. ?

In the name of keeping this short, I leave you with the song ‘My Silver Lining’ which has been haunting me as of late, by the band, ‘First Aid Kit’? (Ok the rebel in me asks, really?? That’s the bands name?? Wish they had called me, I have been creating band names for 25 years, anyway, their music far outmeasures their name.)? ?

"I don't want to wait anymore I'm tired of looking for answers

Take me some place where there's music and there's laughter

I don't know if I'm scared of dying but I'm scared of living too fast, too slow

Regret, remorse, hold on, oh no I've got to go"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkBO7R-k5m8?