Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates. What’s common in these personalities? Of course, everyone knows it. They are the founders of some of the world’s most successful companies. But there’s something else that they have in common. They are all mavericks.
Mavericks? Who are they? The Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines a maverick as “an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party.” Rephrasing it in my words, a maverick is a person who does not go along with the mindset of the rest of the society. In short, he/she is a free-spirited individual.
In this fast-paced world, every person is “too busy” to actually stop and think. Think about their decisions, their beliefs. It’s a common sight now, “going with the flow”, as they say. This has gone to such an extent where we have started living our lives on “auto-pilot” (will write a separate post on auto-pilot).
Whilst majority of the human breed acquaint themselves with this new phrase, some stand out. Mavericks. Independent and goal-oriented. Most importantly, they do not want to go in the lines of what the rest of us do. They are strong-headed people who refuse to fit into the crowd.
They are those people who are disapproved of, for their bizarre ideas. People talk behind their backs, call them names. But they continue on their quest to reaching their goals without paying any heed. They are often termed rude due to their unwillingness to accept things as they are.
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People work within the limits or the guidelines given to them. In reality, no one set limits for one’s thinking. Give it a thought. When the Earth saw the first signs of civilisation, do you think it came along with conditions (or whatever name you wish to assume)? I wonder who then started conditioning our minds to think in a particular way. It may have started by a particular section of the society. But all of this spread like wildfire, and in no time all of us started living our lives entirely based on these “false barriers.”
And so, creative thinking has taken a back seat with more number of people restricting themselves from exploring and redefining the norms. Mavericks have shown that compromise should never be the end to your thinking. They make decisions quite unconventional, question traditions and are perceived to be “strange.”
We praise people who stand out and take risks to pursue something new and exciting. Yet, when it comes to us, we prefer to think stagnant. Yes, that’s what our thoughts have become. Stagnant. Hypocrisy at its best. I am one too. And so are you. And so are most of the people in this world.
Despite their queer enthusiasm and always challenging customs and beliefs, mavericks do succeed in life. They think out of the box, making them unlike the normal. The personalities whom I mentioned earlier went on to make brands larger than life, their products have become the face of the new generation.
All of us are blessed with creativity. Despite stating that you are not creative, you do have it in you. Just that we do not know how to put it to use. Once we knock our creative energies, our lives will be so much better, and happier.
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There’s an old adage in my mother tongue, which translates loosely to “We have become like horses tied with blinders.” Blinders are pieces of leather fixed on horses’ cheeks to keep their vision from faltering.These blinders ensure that they do not lose clarity of their path. We too are horses, who have imaginary blinders fixed to our heads, and we just look straight ahead, not in any other direction. If we break free from these imaginary blinders and look for ways to channel our creativity in all possibly impossible directions, in no time we will be able to do great things in life. My word.
“A maverick is always above and beyond average.”
Here’s a wonderful video by Neil deGrasse Tyson which you might like. This is How a Genius Thinks
Until the next time, stay blessed 🙂
The Soulful Nib 
Good one chethu
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Thank you 🙂
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Amazing!
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Thank you 🙂
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Actually world is made up of our beliefs, assumptions, expectations, emotions, memories and attachments. We prefer to lead a routine and predictable life, since uncertainty is very stressful. Nice topic. Keep writing like this. . . . .
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Thank you 🙂
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These mavericks have a profound passion for the things they do
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Yes, absolutely right 🙂 Thank you for the comment!
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Loved the topic and the lines, “instead of thinking out of the box, get out of the box” .
Follow the sheep, is very common.
To stand out of the crowd and do what your heart and mind says needs lot of courage and those who listen to this instinct, are going to succeed in life and achieve what they wish their life has to be.
Look forward for more write ups.
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Thank you 🙂
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Hi chethana…again wonderfully written… Creativity has no boundaries…today creative thinking has taken a backseat in everyone’s life…we are satisfied in leading a monotonous life….most of us are confined to the box…getting out of the box seems a herculean task and not everyone is ready to take the plunge…those who do definitely succeed..keep writing…👍
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Thanks a million for taking time out to share your views 🙂
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Beautiful writing Chetana. I would like to highlight that mavericks, with a mindset , which is different from the rest of the crowd ,
need ñot always be the achievers. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerberg may be mavericks who have achieved their goals with tremendous success. So also ,there might have been innumerable mavericks who might not have reached their goals at all. For one successful man there might have been thousands who have failed. Ofcourse, hardwork, dedication, passion & perseverence may lead to , & help achieve , your goal . Successful people donot always belong to any particular type of personalities but definitely each one may fit into one type of personality which assumes importance because of their success. Let me tell you that ROMAN empire was not built in a day, that means, a lot of hard work had gone into it for many years by hundreds of thousands of people working day & night . And also, there are many roads leading to ROME. What I mean is that success is achieved by hard work & in many different ways by different people. If one becomes successful, then his character becomes a role model.
Not all mavericks become successful & also not all successful people are mavericks. You have your own way of achieving your goal without the blindfolding/ blinders which you mentioned in your writing . Anyway, this is my way of thinking which may become a food for thought, for you. Bye, See you till your next blog. 😊
Keep writing. God bless. 👍
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Thank you so much! 🙂
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