The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

March 11Crazy for Yourself

I am come of a race noted for vigor of fancy and ardor of passion. People have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence—whether much that is glorious—whether all that is profound—does not spring from disease of thought—from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.

Edgar Allan Poe—Eleonora (1842)

Have you ever tried to explain to others what you do only to be greeted with mild looks of confusion tinged with disapproval? Maybe it's a “Huh, that's interesting,” which is a nice way of saying. “Huh, is that even a thing?”

Ah, but as Poe suggests entrepreneurs too come from “a race noted for vigor of fancy and ardor of passion.” Maybe your parents, your spouse, or your high school buddies don't understand, because maybe you don't fully understand enough to articulate it just yet. All you know is that you possess a deep sense that you must do what you've set out to do.

Is it madness to lurch out on your own, or is it more so to show up and collect salary in the service of someone else's dream? Is it riskier to control your own destiny or to depend on the decisions of another to feed your soul?

Yeah, you're probably a little mad in somebody's definition, but all that is glorious springs from some form of madness.

Today, be crazy for yourself and no one else.

Challenge Question

1. Have you ever tempered your passion for something for fear others won't get it?