Great success in life requires two parallel streams of effort. Small but important things done consistently day in and day out provide a nurturing base of sustenance, while an occasional breakthrough brings true success and prosperity.  Breakthroughs – extraordinary accomplishments – begin with extraordinary ideas and find their realization in extraordinary actions.

Think about that word for a minute.  Extraordinary… break it down and it means extra ordinary.  Not extra in the sense of “more ordinary” but rather from the Latin root – beyond, outside, superior – to the ordinary. What I call unreasonable.

Most people have a handle on the “small” things, maybe not the consistency part, but at least they know what those things are. Unreasonable, on the other hand, is where the challenge comes in. Most people don’t quite grasp being unreasonable, so to make it easier for you to get your hands on, here are the first ten principles.

1.    Being Unreasonable means starting from what’s already happened as given.
To make great things happen, go beyond your logical conclusions, your extrapolations, or the obvious things that at first glance seem to make sense. Stop settling for what everyone else thinks is okay: go beyond the status quo, what is what is expected and what is predicted.  Start where you are and take that first giant step.

2.    Being Unreasonable requires breaking compromises
Break compromises which force you to sacrifice what truly matters in exchange for efficiency and expediency. Compromises are a fiction that exists because of your belief in a false context. Change the context and the need for compromise goes away.

3.    Don’t wait to play your high cards
Being unreasonable is about giving your best in every single situation in which you best is called for.  It is about asking people for their best because it is in everyone’s best interests.  People hold back their best cards waiting for just the right time to play them. Don’t hold back.  Play your aces.

4.    Do More Than Asked
Do more than asked for – most people don’t ask for what they truly need and therefore don’t get it from you.  Ask people for more than people usually do, you will shock them into action beyond what they thought themselves capable.

5.    Act on the Possibility of Things
Being unreasonable is about acting on the possibility of great things without worrying about the probability of success.  Doing this increases the probabilities of success dramatically, insuring that possible things become real.  Make the improbable happen, by bringing attention and resources to those things which lie beyond the norm, beyond the expected, but which can change your world.

6.    Consider why normal is considered normal
Ask how normal things got to be normal.  Is it because they were hugely effective or is it because they were modestly effective, and easy? Being unreasonable is not about being abnormal, paranormal or trans-normal – it is setting aside what seems normal so you can see with fresh eyes, acting to create the results you seek, without regard to what normal people think is normal.

7.    You know what you should be doing. Do it.
You don’t need more gurus or pundits (especially me) to tell you what to do.  You already have considered this, and though it may seem unreasonable, you already know what to do.  All you need to do is take action.

8.    Your old strategies can’t make you any better.
If you have already executed them, your old strategies are not likely to help you improve.  They’ve already done that, and all the changes are incorporated into your current world.  It is time for something new.

9.    Think whatever thoughts
Reasonable thinking silently edits and censors your extraordinary thoughts. Think whatever thoughts arise without approval or disapproval, following them to their conclusions. Often the most transformative ideas come intuitively and unbidden.  Then reasonable thinking kills them.  Don’t let it.

10.    Don’t base your life on what’s likely.
If you have been paying attention to the world, what you now think of as likely is already incorporated into your life, business and personal.  It is also probably incorporated into the life of those around you, making it even less interesting. Search your world – internally and externally – and find the promise of the possible.  Base your life on that.

Make sure to add your comments below.  Go ahead: Be Unreasonable