4 Reasons Why Embracing ‘Stupidity’ Pays Off

“He or she who is willing to be the most uncomfortable is not only the bravest but rises the fastest.”
– Brené Brown

This Really Happened…

Transport yourself 3000 years back in time. Two fierce rivals have set up battle one against another. It is the typical David vs Goliath scenario only that this happened few years before the event. One country was totally disadvantaged in that they did not have any weapons. The only weapons available for the 20 thousand strong army were two spears: One for the King and one for his son! In fact, if this country needed weapons, the only respite was to go to the enemy country and beg for the smelters to prepare some for them!

Such was the extent of the disadvantage they faced that day. For some reason, there was a stalemate not because the armies were of equal strength, but mostly because the disadvantaged army was hiding in thickets, caves.

Comes the Moment, Comes the Stupidity

And then a stupid moment came. The Prince told his armor bearer to accompany him and go accost the enemy army. I am talking 2 people against thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen of well-equipped and trained soldiers! Who does that? This is sheer stupidity and there is no better way to refer to it. It is suicide! Makes no sense!

• That is what Steve Wozniak told Steve Jobs when jobs was insisting that the inside of the Macintosh they were creating must be as exquisite, ordered, smart and fitted with excellence. That the aesthetics in the inside must be attended to with as much finesse as that on the outside. It was sheer stupidity yet that is one of the reasons why Apple as a company has millions of raving fans today

• Abraham Lincoln formed a Team of Rivals, appointing ALL his competitors to key positions of government when he became President. It was sheer stupidity that only a genius could get away with. Yet at that time, it is said that there has been no Cabinet of such effectiveness to deliver the key purpose of emancipation of slavery that Lincoln will always be remembered for.
• Richard Branson’s aunt dares him to give him some money if he swims across a river. He did not know how to swim but took the challenge immediately. It was stupid. He would have drowned…but he didn’t, and he got the money plus a DNA of risk taking.

Two Choices

Today, there are only two options of getting ahead in life that I know of. One is the route of consistency, patience and determination. It is predictable, planned, executed and tracked. The greatest fight here is the fight for consistency. This is one of the most potent weapons to get anything done. It is called the power of momentum. Doctors call it chronic. If you do not do frequent health check ups, some disease might be brewing up on you unbeknownst…that years later, it is terminal! The infuriating thing is that it could have been arrested years earlier. So is success. If you take a long haul look at it, say give yourself 10 years of consistency and momentum on one thing only, you are guaranteed of success.

 

“The greatest fight for your life is the fight for consistency”.

 

The other choice of course is the choice of stupidity, coupled with the choice of momentum. This is where you decide to do something most logically out of normal comprehension in the pursuit of your goals.

What it means to operate in the realms of stupidity?

It is simply going against the grain, the norm of what your mind, body and other people consider normal. It is a deliberate effort to exert oneself beyond the current “known capacity” in terms of will, determination, action, and frequency. It is absolute madness even to yourself, but you go ahead and gamble  on it anyway.

• It is taking a risk
• It is a dare
• It is a push
• It is embracing discomfort and endeavoring to conquer it, making it a new normal

A few examples will suffice:

• A graduate after being frustrated in the job hunt creates a placard advertising his credentials. He then proceeds to hold this placard in public, daring shame to its face during early morning traffic. It is sheer stupidity. Nobody does that. Needless to say, they got several job offers. Today, many other people are doing the same “Stupidity”…making it a norm.
• A guy called Dick Forsby decides to do high jump with the head first. Since creation of man, people had been doing High Jump with the legs. Forsby was stupid that day, but he broke the record with his “Forsby Flop” as it was called before they saw his exploits. Today, it is the standard.
• The most unlikely boy in class does the most stupid thing: He asks out the hottest girl in class or school. This is repeated several places all over the world with nearly the same results. She says “Yes”…and the rest of the ‘normal’ people are still wondering, “What happened?”

 

Wisdom while engaging stupidity

But there is a thin line between “Faith and Stupidity”, you have had that said. Doing stupid things just for the sake of it is foolishness. But doing stupid things for the sake of advancement is inspirational! For example, jumping off a building in order to get attention is foolish. There is no advancement in that. However, it is stupid to take one more lap when everything in your system screams “NO”. One thing is for sure: You will still come back home…whether you will walk or not. But when you do come back home, you have feedback. You know how far your body can be pushed…and you also know that you can be stupid one more time, perhaps twice…until that lap becomes manageable.

Why to be Stupid:

1. Creates confidence:

A big percentage of people who lack confidence are those who did not attempt something in the affected area. Once you dare and risk, you get feedback. You intimately know what is in there. In fact, you get engaged in this area, you get to love it and in turn it builds your confidence and experience. Those two are currency these days.

2. Breaks ground of inspiration:

Do you feel so uninspired? Try to do something stupid. All of a sudden, the mind is active. You find out very fast that inspiration does not come before you attempt, but during and after you do something stupid

At times, our “mountain” that we seek to climb through stupidity is nothing but sheer mental block. These are things we believe we can’t do…but when we take a stupid action, we get so surprised later on how we were able to handle it!

3. Makes you Grow:

Of course when you do something stupid you have stretched your mind and it will never be the same. Kiyosaki says, “Sometimes we win, sometimes we learn!” Another great visionary said the following:

If we will always be comfortable with that which our brains and bodies can handle, we will not be able to GROW.

4. Hastens Progress and Dispels Fear

Something done acutely has the potential to hasten your progress. Something handled by kid gloves so to speak will take long. In fact nothing conquers fear faster than doing something stupid. Stupidity helps you do things acutely that would have otherwise taken ages of consistency to be established. We need both consistency and stupidity in our lives.

Stupidity Did Win

And in the end, the nation that was outnumbered managed to do exploits that day by sheer stupidity. They won the battle that day and had a major victory. Chances are that they would have been run over if it was not for stupidity.

What are some stupid things that you want to do this year and beyond? Share with us and your friends on Facebook below.