Call Me Crazy

I’m attracted to the long shot, the improbable, the impossible. This summer I introduced my kids to Ethan Hunt and the first 5 Mission Impossible movies (in part to get primed for the latest that we have yet to see). As Tom Cruise was evaluating the difficult odds of accomplishing the mission as presented, if he chose to accept it, Anthony Hopkins laid down the brilliant qualifier: “This is not mission difficult, Mr. Hunt, it’s mission impossible. Difficult should be a walk in the park for you.”

As I sit in the awkward space between careers, I can’t help but continually dream about reaching and achieving the impossible. Which means a lot of what’s in my head isn’t a reality today or even well-defined into a specific vision of a better tomorrow. At least not yet. It’s not easy establishing a clear foundation around ideologies and principles, which makes it difficult to craft a tangible or actionable plan forward.

But this is where crazy ideas and passions can collide with skills and open doors. At least that’s the trifecta of my daily prayer at the moment. God, would you help me prepare for the next season by stirring my heart with things that stir your heart? Will you help me see what you see, even if it doesn’t make sense or seems impossible?

After a few months of thinking and dreaming and praying along these lines, I keep coming back to the uncomfortable and undefined timeline of waiting. Meaning an extended season of sowing that might not fit a predictable or straight-line sequence of timely events. There is no resume building, job hunting, or active networking in play right now. Call me crazy, but I continue to allocate most of my “work” time to reading, podcasting, a little writing, and brainstorming with others.

One of the books I just started is Phil Knight’s memoir, Shoe Dog. He goes all the way back to the early 60s (and his mid-20s) where he keeps talking about this “crazy idea” that he first pitched to his dad so that he could get some cash for a global trip – including a key stop in Japan to lay the seeds for his vision of what becomes the legend of Nike.

But what I love about the story is that it’s unpredictable and non-linear, even though Knight actually calls himself a linear thinker. “Reality is non-linear” he writes, which is why his path to Japan to pitch his crazy idea actually started with a stop in Hawaii, where he sold encyclopedias, got into the securities business, and learned how to surf – for a solid 6 months before he even made it to his ultimate destination in Japan.

(Hmm, I once sold books door to door and somehow found myself in the securities business…but I can’t surf a lick even though I tried when I was 20. Nor do I have a passion for running. And I’m pretty sure that crazy idea has already been cashed.)

In my mind, the sum of crazy is actually part of the formula for disruption. Whether business or even at a personal level. Think of all the wildly successful founders and executives who were told they would never achieve their dreams, or all the breakthrough start-ups who were shot down by countless venture capital funds. Or just the brilliant entrepreneurs who never even went to college. Crazy people.

Crazy enough so see what others can’t see. Crazy enough to take a big risk and believe in the impossible.

Whatever the obstacle, the crazies naturally quote Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber all the time: “so you’re saying there’s a chance!”

So let’s not be afraid to get a little crazy.