What are you willing to do in order to achieve success? They say that brilliance and madness are the two sides of the same coin. Many manifested the statement with their work and offbeat habits. An average man usually doesn’t do much in order to stand out from the crowd; instead, he is fine being an “average guy”. But there are ingenious exceptions who denied mediocrity. These brilliant minds usually tend to stand out in public; most of whom as we are aware are school or college dropouts. They proved that one doesn’t need to be a bookworm in order to achieve success, one should only desire success bad enough to achieve it. But are desires enough? Shouldn’t the recipe include tenacity and laser-like focus? But how did these ridiculously wealthy and self-made personalities achieved that focus and determination? How did some mere dropouts manage to control the world? And the main question, could you achieve it too? Well, I can only give you an insight on their tricks. It’s your job to get inspired and establish some tricks of your own.
1. AN ALMOST NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE
Yoshiro Nakamatsu, whom many people consider as the father of floppy disks starves his brain of oxygen until an idea pops into his mind. The entrepreneur with approximately 33,000 patents registered under his name, claims that he benefits from the scarcity of oxygen to the brain while looking for ideas. In order to achieve the point where his mind is almost deprived of oxygen, he prefers diving underwater exactly 0.5 seconds before losing consciousness.
The idea does seem dangerous and many would consider Nakamatsu insane, but this isn’t the only trick for him to generate ideas. He also claims to possess a 24 carat gold bathroom which according to him is constructed without a single iron nail and consists of gold tiles. This special bathroom of his, helps him to block out the radio and television waves which tamper with his train of thoughts.
2. GOING TEMPORARILY BLIND
One of the greatest literary geniuses of 21st century prefers to go blind as well as deaf for the sake of his fiction creations. Jonathan Franzen, the man behind the bestsellers ‘The Corrections‘ and ‘Freedom’ prefers to block out any kind of connection with the world as he writes with earmuffs and blindfolds covering his basic senses when he needs to concentrate on his on-going projects.
According to Franzen, going blind is not a big deal as he can always find his house keys on the computer because they have little bumps. True, why should he compromise with the quality of his fiction when he can distinguish house keys from car keys with blindfolds on?
3. WEAR A UNIFORM TO WORK
Yup, the focus mantra for many CEOs is to wear a uniform to work. Some of the richest entrepreneurs believe that possessing a wide range of clothing is a waste of time as it forces you to decide on the basic question almost everybody asks themselves daily “what should I wear to work today?”
People such as Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook and Leo Widrich, co-founder of Buffer own a simple range of clothing which they wear to work every day. Widrich claims to own 5 white t-shirts and 2 pairs of pants which circumvent him the morning dilemma of what to wear to the office, also he eats the same food daily so that he could stay focused and save his energy for more demanding decisions he has to make throughout the day.
4. LEAD A FRUGAL LIFESTYLE
Many try but only a few succeed, the best testament being Ingvar Kamprad, the fifth richest man in the world happens to live his life with frugality would be an understatement, as this gentleman not only drives a 15-year-old Volvo and calls it brand new, but also prefers eating in small cafes from where he admits he steals salt and pepper packets.
Kamprad, once on the way to receive the award for the businessman of the year, was denied access to the venue as he had arrived in a local bus. He claims that luxury is a sin and avoids wasting his money; he inclines towards the thrifty lifestyle of an ordinary man and contemplates himself as “the man of the people”
5. STICK TO THE RESOLUTION MANTRA
One of the richest and most prevailing entrepreneurs of our time Mark Zuckerberg relies on yearly resolutions to ameliorate himself as well as his focal point.
According to him, these resolutions work as tests of discipline for him every year. Each year he tries to set one goal and strive to execute it. Mark Zuckerberg’s much talked about meat eating preference in 2011, is one such paradigm. This year he has pledged to read at least one book every two weeks. Well, good luck with that.
6. BIZARRE EATING TRADITIONS
The famous English geologist, who unravelled the mystery of human origin, could be literally considered as a cannibal as he was said to feed on the insects he had invented. The consumption of his inventions motivated and intrigued him. His inventions and sometimes his meals include-iguanas, armadillos, rheas, giant tortoises, and owls.
The former CEO of Apple Inc. late Steve Jobs though wasn’t as fanatical as Darvin preferred partaking the same type of food for a long span of time while working on a project. In fact, he was so persuaded of the virtues of eating carrots that he consumed them for months before his skin was reported to have turned slightly orange due to its effect.
7. ADDICTION TO MEASURING TAPES
As bizarre as it may sound, one of the leading video game designers Shigeru Miyamoto, who created the prominent video game WII FIT, attains his kicks while playing his personal mind game of measuring things. Apparently, this tech wizard is addicted to measuring various random objects in order to keep his mind focused.
During interviews, he confessed that he preoccupies his time with guessing the weight as well as measurements of all haphazard objects he comes across daily. His addiction to measurements is so profound that he always carries a measuring tape with him so that he could eventually measure the object for the accurate results.
His obsession helps him keep his mind busy so that he doesn’t have to wander around the idol. Also, he claims that this little addiction of his helps his mind to be sharp and be in form all the time.
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