When people tell you to “get back to basics” - push harder!

My whole life I’ve been told I am intense.

Intense is a peculiar word. Being intense can have an array of nuances to it, ranging from negative to positive. It’s been mainly positive, but I’ve definitely had situations where I exhausted the people around me. I can understand why - I am definitely intense, but luckily it has taught me a ton of valuable lessons that I use every day.

People see me as intense because I always ask questions, always learn, always reflect and always have the creative part of my brain turned on. All that, happens mainly extrovertedly. My brain runs 24/7, which is nice for producing and creating, but terrible for slowing down and relaxing. Gaming have been a real blessing in my life when it comes to relaxing, as it’s been the one of the only places where my brain enters some sort of balanced state, simply because of the high amount of mechanics and scenarios happening every moment. Whether it be Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, DoTA or Starcraft it’s always been equally exciting and relaxing to play. Anyways, back to the point.

Being intense has taught me not to be afraid of pushing where others won't. To ask the tough questions, push the extra mile, turn everything upside down and always make sure that things do not remain at status quo. When collaborating with other people, specially in business, it means you stretch the limits of your surroundings a lot, often leading to strong opinions from people. Some might agree, some might not and argue against - both are equally fine and usually spurs logical argumentation. The third reaction you get a lot is the “let’s get back to basics” or “snap out of it”. In my earlier years, this one could get me fuming. It almost feels like an adult tells you to get down from your rainbow cloud and talk about something real, as if you are a child with no clue as to what is going on, when in fact you are trying to change status quo. Nowadays, I know that this is not the case. I’ve learned that:

"It is never about YOUR idea. It is always about other peoples ability to comprehend your idea within their own comfort zone." 

So when you encounter a reaction like this, your idea is almost always valid. It wasn’t shut down by logic and argumentation, but with the underlying argument “I am not able to comprehend right now, so I’ll just shut down the conversation completely and talk about something else”. This is where true magic happens. The best experiences I’ve had in business, coaching, leadership or any other form of innovation is where I’ve managed to push the boundaries of people around me to try harder, see more nuance, practice more, deliberate or analyse in places where they previously saw a wall, only to smash through it and see a whole new dimension of learning unfold - that is absolutely magical. 

So the next time people find you intense, and tell you to “get back to basics” or “snap out of it”, then push even harder. You are most likely on one of your beautiful crusades of innovation, burning with desire towards a new idea for a business, a piece of art, a new song, a new innovative dribble in football, a new nuance to an ancient science problem or something completely different. Whatever it is, you need to push people out of their comfort zone to make them understand. If you manage to do so, you just might end up starting something truly spectacular.