Extreme Today, Normal Tomorrow
Are the extremes of today a glimpse into what’s coming?
Think of some normal things in our society today.
Women’s right to vote
Like women’s right to vote. Sounds perfectly fair and normal? It was born out of movements at the time which were quite extreme.
Today, it’s common and taken for granted that wherever there are free elections, there is a right to vote for women as well.
Heliocentrism
How about the Sun being the centre of our solar system? Galileo was prosecuted for supporting this notion.
<Galileo> was sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition. On the following day this was commuted to house arrest, which he remained under for the rest of his life.
But today? Quite normal, nothing to think twice about.
Takeaway
The key takeaway here is — what is fringe or extreme today, will simmer and slowly make its way to the mainstream. This will become normal. Lot of these extreme developments may lose steam and fall away, but inevitably, some of them will stick around.
So what?
Even if you find yourself mostly conforming to things and living quite a normal life (as a lot of us are), there is one very important thing for each of us here.
Whatever we do — at our jobs, at our homes, within our small social circles, we have to bring forth what we believe in our hearts, as good, even if it sounds extreme.
For eg: You’re a manager for a small team of 5. You can push the team’s performance by raising the bar. Your team may think of your efforts as extreme or stupid, but this is how what is normal today, gets elevated. Quite soon, your team will find a new rhythm, a new quality to their work. For any new person joining in, this elevated work mode will be their “normal”.
(Standard disclaimers: Of course, don’t abuse, disrespect and push people around in this effort. Don’t be an asshole.)
One more examples of this in action, let’s take a look at the..
iPhone
It was considered a big leap at the time, reinventing the mobile phone category.
The original iPhone has been described as “revolutionary” a “breakthrough handheld computer”, and “the best phone that anybody has ever made”.
Now, in an attempt to compete with the iPhone, lot’s of other great devices and user experiences exist. Steve’s insane demands elevated an entire industry, and changed what is considered normal.
Steve Jobs was an exceptionally unreasonable man. In the first 100 pages or so of Isaacson’s book, you hear constantly how he cajoled, swindled, and browbeat those around him into doing what he wanted. [link]
(Aside: But we’ve all heard how his employees thought of him as an asshole. Unreasonable is fine, but don’t be that asshole.)
So push for what you believe will elevate what is normal. Push for everything good and healthy. Push against stupidity and everything bad.
What’s extreme today will be normal tomorrow, so make it a good one.
