The Fine Line Between Genius and Insanity

People often tell me that I am insane. This is partly because I see things differently or look at every issue as an opportunity. Or perhaps because I have lost a lot of my faith in humanity based on the countless interactions I have had with people in all walks of life and all wealth levels.

I can’t stand stupid, and I don’t have patience for petty problems. My mind never stops working, to a degree where I often find myself staring at something yet I am hardly looking at it. Others call me a genius since I have the ability to solve most problems in my life in less than 24 hours, regardless of what it is. I can usually turn any idea into a profitable business in 12 months, and I am a master of manipulating environments in order to foster other people’s growth.

So am I a genius or a future mental patient?

Well, I am both, at all times. As an entrepreneur, I live in that very fine line between genius and insanity and I live there every single day. This is important to know, especially if you believe that entrepreneurship is all about glamour, rewards, and independence. Being an entrepreneur may be as such, but the journey to becoming one is far from it. Since entrepreneurship is about pushing your boundaries at any given time and venturing into an area of your mind that is unknown, there are many risks. The journey to becoming an entrepreneur is dangerous. If not fueled by belief and courage, it can lead to catastrophic endings that often can have a very long lasting impact on your mind, body and soul.

Throughout my entrepreneurial career, I have been through the trenches and continue to expose myself to them. Allow me to share with you what happens when your awareness level is heightened and you are living on that fine line I mentioned.

Do you ever wonder why your friends and family don’t get you? Why they don’t understand your ambitions? Why they are completely comfortable belonging to society and surviving? It is hard for them to understand what you are doing since they cannot see the end game like you do.

You walk into a dealership to buy a car and yet you can predict every word out of the dealer’s mouth. You know everything will be a sales pitch. You go skydiving or jet skiing and everything you touch is an up-sell to get more money out of you. No matter where you look, or what you do, you are forced to see the business side of everything instead of just enjoying your time. Why can’t you just enjoy yourself without thinking you are being sold to? The problem isn’t that things cost money, but rather that you realize how almost everything is linked to self-driven profits.

Your relationships with your loved ones become a give and take, but almost always ends up being more give than take because you expect a return that never comes.

You start studying behavior and connecting the dots faster. But unfortunately, everything unfolds in such predictable ways that you start feeling disconnected from society. You start realizing the trends that all point to the same idea: Most people don’t care about becoming great, and instead, they trust polluted media sources, brands and advertising. You start feeling sad for people. By understanding how little value some people have in your life, you tend to find yourself thinking you are better than others. Which in turn creates a serious disconnect between you and the world you interact with.

Since no one understands you, you tend to keep all the pain filtered and away from those around you to look sane. Meanwhile, you go deeper and deeper into isolation, eventually being very alone, even when you are surrounded.

This is typically a mistake that many learn to recover from in due time. But it often takes place during the hardest parts of the journey. You tend to confuse lack of awareness with stupidity. In other words, as you meet others who have not endured or gone through the same struggles as you did, you tend to look at them as if they’re stupid. Even though they are not necessarily “stupid”, instead, they are just unaware of the reality you have faced. For example: One employee decides to complain to his manager that he is not given a 10 minute break at work because the business is busy.

On the other hand, you have the foreign employee who has been unemployed for 10 years in his country and now finally has a job, and can’t believe someone has the audacity to complain about not getting a 10 minute break. Neither is right or wrong, but both are subjective to experience. These symptoms may already be happening to you, and you may not understand why you feel the way you do or how to let go of them. The answer is very simple—succeed.

When you are willing to put your dream before yourself is when you realize how hard it is to succeed. Remember that the only thing that can truly keep you sane on this journey is your belief in something greater than yourself.

The only reason geniuses are willing and able to keep going through what feels like a self-perpetuated hell is because they want to see their vision come to life. Therefore, eventually earning themselves the title of entrepreneur.

One thing separates genius from insanity: Genius people made some crazy idea become everyone else’s reality.