Why everything you think is right, is wrong

Sometimes it takes a little madness

Why is it that we feel college is the path to success? The majority of people I speak to about this, whether it’s by directly asking them that question or indirectly jumping around the thought, they mutter something along the lines of “it’s what everyone does” or “what else am I going to do”? I find these thoughts fascinating, because they seem to be logical, right? If the majority of people with typical jobs that require degrees go to college, take up an internship or two, and travel down the same beaten path that was grazed by others before them, what seems to be the problem?

Let’s put this into a different perspective this time. In The Innovator’s Dilemma authored by the revered Clayton Christensen, he writes about how major corporations that basked in achievements for their successes were slowly getting the carpet ripped up beneath them by scrappy entrant companies that were disrupting the market. They make things faster, smaller, cheaper, more durable, whatever the case may be, and they enter perceivably too small of a market for these major corporations to exploit. These smaller entrant companies, which are typically formed by former disgruntled employees at major corporations, often quickly gain market share in a fast growing market, and can infiltrate the existing market that the major corporation had its stakes set in for years. How can this happen? Well, people do not have a commitment to any company, and they will jump ship if this competing company can offer them more a lot more value than their current situation without being a cost or convenience burden.

So, where am I going with this? If you constantly seek out the safe path and hope it leads you into a safe, comfortable job/life/environment whatever, sooner or later you’ll actually be doing the complete opposite. As Seth Godin said, “safe is the new risky”. In life, there will be a lot of opportunities. However, these opportunities will most likely be open to anyone to apply for (jobs, contests, dating that pretty girl, etc.) and naturally as humans, we will premeditate what we think is the best way to achieve our objective. The problem is, we all tend to think in the same ways. Institutions and society have conditioned us to do so. I don’t want to sound like a modern day internet hippie, as I do believe there are merits to this, however, it’s important to note that people don’t remember everyday occurrences. We remember the remarkable. So, what makes people think that by doing the right thing all the time will payoff for them? It may help you get an entry level job and some basic everyday items, but it sure as hell won’t get you the things we all desire, yet perceive as highly unlikely. So, take a chance from time to time. Don’t go to Vegas and bet your life savings on red, but do try to think about and approach normal situations in unconventional, creative ways. It’s the only way you’ll get better, even if you fail. Let go of ‘failure’ as it’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. What will really eat away at you is everything you didn’t do because you were too busy pleasing others who don’t care about you and that you don’t care about yourself.