Success Takes Stupidity!

Is that headline provocative enough?

Am I doing this right? ??

Let's throw some quick parameters on this thicc juicy steak of an opinion ??. Butter isn't the meal, it's an ingredient (unless you roll like that, Paula Deen). Stupidity isn't the focus, but it is necessary to get that crispy company crust.

I spent over a decade searching for the "right" way to do everything. All the while witnessing fellow executives make what I considered to be blunders, left and right. It didn't make any sense to me?! How the heck was so-and-so finding success? He lit 80% of his budget on fire, and landed key accounts by accident.

I often grumbled, "I could do that!"

In fact, I was soooooo smart I could hammer out an entire brand/biz strategy in a weekend, and then find myself frozen, unable to hit launch. The truth was, I couldn't do it, because I was afraid of being stupid.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, BOYS AND GIRLS, INTRODUCING THE FORCEFIELD KEEPING ME FROM STUPIDITY. WEIGHING IN AT A WHOPPING WEIGHT OF THE WORLD. THE CHAMPION OF CRIPPLING ANXIETY. THE ENEMY OF GROWTH AND INHIBITOR OF DREAMS - FEAR!"

It's stupid how being stupid seems stupid until you realize you're unable to be stupid because you're afraid others will think you're stupid, which is stupid!         

Friends, I'm happy announce that I rounded the stupid corner and am now fully capable of being unashamedly and uninhibitedly stupid ??.

Are you afraid of being stupid?

Here's a few facts I learned to become more stupid.

Fact #1: Everything is made up. Every system, organization, and concept is simply made up and agreed upon by people. That's it.

• Money, governments, stock markets, etc. All made up.

Fact #2: Every innovation inherently starts out as "stupid" because it goes against the prior thing that was made up and agreed upon by people.

• Ask Henry Ford and he'd tell you people thought cars were "stupid." They just want faster horses.

Fact #3: Nobody cares. Seriously, we accept the fact that there's a dude in a speedo playing guitar in Times Square in January. It's whatever.

• Your identity cannot be determined by anyone's opinion of you. You can give others that power, but it's a choice. No one can ever tell you who you are.

Fact #4: Fear is a LIAR. An absolute ????.

• Everything you want is on the other side of fear.

Fear is the foundation of a fixed mindset, and a fixed mindset is unable to grow because it is... fixed. Growth, then, is predicated on giving fear the middle finger and going for it anyways. It's not that we no longer hear the voice of fear, we simply choose to ignore it.

Here's my encouragement to you- Make the wrong move, fail a little bit, literally nobody cares ??. If you do care about success... Be brave enough to do something stupid today!

And don't forget, stupids cool best friend that brings 'em to the parties is curiosity.