Stay Radical

It’s easy to get a little tired and stop wanting more out of the status quo.

It’s important to accurately see why the status quo exists – what value it creates for which parties to allow it to persist – but that doesn’t require defending it or assuming it’s the best that can be.

There are always $20 bills on the sidewalk.

There’s a danger in seeing so much revolutionary opportunity that you get bitter at every bit of the status quo. It all seems like insane, irrational madness. None of it makes sense. None of it is as good as your ideas. All of it needs to change.

Maybe.

Don’t lose that stubborn belief that everything can always be better. But if it starts to make you a cynic, a pessimist, or an unhappy person, it’s not doing you any good. Pessimists don’t innovate.

The ideal combination is discontent optimism.