“I was a victim of my own success. But then I began to realize that I didn’t fit. Here’s what I was missing:

I was missing who I was.

I began with a dream of being Danny K, which is a very mainstream dream. It’s very middle America, it’s a people pleaser's job. And I dreamed a path that was traditional, disk-jockey-comedian-actor, big success.

A mainstream dream.

Meanwhile what I really was, I was an outlaw and a rebel, that’s who I was.

I had great marks, I was a smart kid but I didn’t care. They didn’t wanna teach me what I wanted to learn, so I didn’t give a shit.

It’s important in life to not give a shit sometimes, that can help you a lot.” ― George Carlin

It's a Crazy, Crazy World

Sometimes it seems that we do everything backwards, that many things that we are taught by television, school, or even by our parents are the exact opposite of what they should be.

It seems to me, and maybe to you too that the people who loves us and who we love in return, are often the ones we take the most for granted, and that the ones who care the least about us are the ones we spend the most attention on. Hell, some people even go out of their way to buy things they don’t need, with money they can’t afford to impress people they don’t even like.

And this strange phenomena is not exclusive to relationships, you can find the very same process taking place in every other aspect of life, even in our most desired dreams. Especially dreams.

There is a reason why people who are able to fulfill their dreams (inspiring us in the process) are more often than not considered crazy. At least before they achieving success

In case you’ve ever heard the expression: There’s a thin line between crazy and genius.

Having been blessed/cursed with a curios mind, it occurred to me one day, that I should start searching for that particular thin line.

What I found out, and much to my surprise is that those geniuses were not crazy at all, at least not on surface. But what happened is that there were constantly seen as strange and peculiar individuals until they became famous and gained recognition. Funny how fast labels can change.

So when does the crazy part come in?

Here’s the thing, if you want to achieve massive success, then you'd have to make a lot good choices right? And somewhere along the road, you will be asked to make important decisions.

Decisions that may shape your outcome in one way or another.

One of the best ways to ensure that you’re making the right choices is to remove all the fluff that’s impairing your judgment.

You see, many of those geniuses tend to take all the other aspects that stand in between them and their goals, and completely remove those from their lives. While that can dramatically increase their chance of success, it could also contribute in getting them seen as obsessive and crazy in the eyes of society.

Take “True Detective” for example, a television series that many critics agree belongs among the best in history. Some of them even go further and claim that no other show has ever elevated cinema as much as Pizzolatto’s subversive chef d’oeuvre did.

Bold claims right?

Contrary as many people believe, Nic didn’t write that masterpiece while sipping Mojitos in Cancun, watching spring breakers dancing their stress away along the pearly sands. What he did is that he isolated himself in his garage and worked there for an entire year.

Even his walls were decorated with post-me notes to re-arrange the scenes, create open-loops..etc. He breathed the story that has blown our socks away.

Embracing the Chaos

Have you stumbled on his wife opening the garage door and seen him working his ass off, you’d think he was just another crazy person, would you not?

Obsessive, compulsive, over the top... These are the thoughts that would’ve probably crossed your mind.

Fast forward HBO… This guy is a fucking genius!

Of course there is an entire industry based on selling people bullet-proof plans to “Grab” the life of their dreams with no effort, no sweat, no financial advice of any sort.

All you have to do is to spend your time wishing, hoping, magnetizing and whatever jargon term they can sell you for $499. Limited offer of course.

If that was the case, why do you even need me to buy your courses? Just magnetize that shit for yourself and you’ll get a much higher return than you’ll ever get from me.

I said there's a thin line between genius and crazy, not that you should cross the crazy line and fly over the cuckoo’s nest. But I’m digressing.

Let me give you another example, The Walking Dead, arguably the most successful television series in the world.

That didn’t happen by surprise either. Robert Kirkman also isolated himself from everything that was standing between him and his dream when he was creating the series. Again, if you’d seen him working then you’d think he was crazy, obsessive and all that jazz.

Are you beginning to see a pattern here?

These people became successful partly as a consequence of eliminating all that fluff that was standing between them and their dreams.

Can you imagine writing the most successful comic in the world, while watching entire seasons of Lost, spending 5 hours a day arguing with trolls on the internet and focusing on all the unnecessary things? No.

What he did, what many people do, is to pull a Charles Bukowski, find what they love and let it kill them, metaphorically speaking.

Now, keep in mind that not everybody is the same. Some people cannot live without some sort of balance in their lives, so there is no way in hell that they can embrace the chaos the same way many artists do.

I know (mostly know of) some writers and actors that prefer to have some hours a day for sports, and for social relationships, etcetera... They schedule moments for different parts of the day.

But then when it comes to immersing themselves in their jobs, they don’t go anywhere near Facebook.

And the reason behind that is very simple. In order to produce your most brilliant work, you have to give it the most attention that you can spare, all your passion, your creativity, your drive…

You can’t do that if you’re spending two fucks worrying about Facebook notifications, three fucks about who disagreed with you in the comments, five fucks spent on that driver that flipped you the bird, six fucks about Jon Snow having sex with his sister…

Before you know it, you’re all out of fucks.

Now what do you do? You’re all tired and grumpy. You keep complaining about everything and transfer your frustration into all the wrong channels… Life would be so much easier if you didn’t give a fuck about things that had no incidence on your life and which sole purpose was to distract you anyways.

Of course this is much easier said than done.

In a way, life is like a poker game. The number one reason why people fail is because of innefective bankroll management. They spend their precious chips on poor decisions that were made from an emotional standpoint to start with. And as the stakes go higher, they suddenly find themselves in a disadvantageous position with a depleting stack while having to make the most important decisions under duress.

Now just imagine that life is the game and fucks are the poker chips. Maybe it's better to spend them wisely.

Closing Thoughts

Closing the loop, it’s important in life to not give a fuck as the genius comedian George Carlin suggested in the beginning of the story. That way at least, you’ll be able to give all your attention to the things that really matter in your life.

“There will be a few times in your life when all your instincts will tell you to do something, something that defies logic, upsets your plans, and may seem crazy to others.

When that happens, you do it.” ― Judith McNaught, Remember When