Why you should be weird
They told Van Gogh he used too much paint, and Englebart that the mouse was pointless. Galileo and Copernicus were called heretics for seeing the world for what it was. Dylan and Guthrie were told they couldn't sing and that they had nothing to say. DaVinci's helicopters and Tesla's radio waves stayed in notebooks for years, as the ideas were too weird for ordinary minds to understand.
Most great ideas seem weird at first. Our minds are used to the old world, the old judgments and the old reasons. Few have the imagination and self-reliance to see a new world when its first shown to us. This doesn't mean being weird, or having a weird idea guarantees you anything. Most ideas, weird, cool or reasonable, fail to take hold. Yet it is certain the first time you hear an idea that will eventually change everything it will seem weird to you. And the first time you pitch a great idea, you'll be told by even smart and successful people, that you and your idea are weird. This is to be expected. Many great ideas need second chances to show how great they are.
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