What It Takes to Be a Revolutionary
In this world of what seems like recession, depression, and destruction all around us, if you truly look closely and dive deeper, we’re now in a time of greater possibilities.
And it takes a revolutionary to see that!
What Does It Take to be a Revolutionary?
- Never say or accept “I gave my best”
Saying that you gave your best is an unacceptable crutch. When the goal is to accomplish greatness and go where no one team has ever gone before, your best won’t be good enough. Every extraordinary accomplishment, invention, or revolution was not a result of someone giving his or her best. To find a way to do things no one else could do, you have to do the impossible.
- Understand your Reality Distortion Field
Apple’s Steve Jobs has a reality distortion field of refusing to accept limitations that stood in the way of his ideas. He convinced himself and anyone on his team that anything was possible. Jobs combined his charismatic style, indomitable will, and his eagerness to bend any fact to fit the purpose at hand. Even though Apple employees were aware of what Jobs was doing, they would go along with it and ended up doing the impossible. Each of us has the opportunity to create such field. What we consider possible and impossible are merely the way we were pre-programmed and consensus-thinking about artificial boundaries.
- Ask yourself ‘What belief system needs to be changed in your world’?
For centuries, man tried to find a way to break the four-minute mile. By the early 1950s, all the medical experts had determined that the human body was not capable of eclipsing a four-minute mile pace. They thought the human body had reached its limit. Then on May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister made history and shocked the world when he broke the four-minute mile barrier. The impossible was made possible. Within the next 12 months, 24 more runners broke the four-minute mile mark. The human anatomy did not change, but the belief system of what people thought was possible had changed.
- Understand the mindset of a Revolutionary
You are a revolutionary if, and only if, you are fascinated by the future, restless for change, patient for progress, and deeply dissatisfied with the status quo. As a revolutionary, you are never satisfied with the present, because in your head, you can see a better future. And the friction between “what is” and “what could be” burns you, stirs you, and propels you forward.
Let’s go start a revolution!
For more information and resources on what it takes to be revolutionary, check out The Customer Service Revolution podcast. If you’d like to listen, head over to Episode 032: What it Takes to Be a Revolutionary.
