Normal is for suckers

[Note: This is a guest post from Project Mojave faculty member Johnny B. Truant.  He’s known to use a secret jedi NLP pattern interrupt neuro-conversion psycho-control writing formula blueprint system . . . to hijack your mind and help build his cult.  Seriously, DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE right before going to bed or you’ll probably wake up the next morning involuntarily chanting weird shit (that he put in your head as a practical joke)].

So Clay and I were talking on the phone the other day (a tricky business involving hiring two Indian sherpas and a team of dogs to deliver a phone to wherever he is at the time, like in a bat cave or perhaps at a Starbucks) and we got to talking for maybe an hour and he started asking me about my purpose.

He’s like, “Dude, I really want you to stay involved with Project Mojave. But at the same time, I only want people in it who really believe in the idea of seeking freedom.”

And I’m like, “Dude, I’m all about freedom. It’s like, my reason for living. My coach Tim Brownson did this values process on me and Freedom was number two. NUMBER TWO, dude.”

And he’s like, “What was number one?”

And I’m like, “Chicks, dude.”

And then there’s this pause and I figured I should admit it was actually “Family,” not “Chicks.” Chicks were probably like number five or so. So I’m into my family and freedom. Numbers one and two. You give me my family and tell us that we can do whatever we want and you can pretty much walk away because we’ll be set forever.

So I pointed Clay to my new blog and a few of the recent posts I’ve written about the process of becoming free (exhibits A, B, and C) and I guess he felt that it qualified as what he’s coined to be good-stuff “freedom porn.” So at that point we’re both on the same page and we both kind of sigh and say, “Dude.”

See, it’s important to me to work with people who share my values. But it’s far more important to meet as many new people as possible who share my values, and far more important than that to be able to communicate daily with those people who share my values.

But most of all, above everything, it’s important to me that I surround myself with people who are crazy.

Like this Clay Collins guy. He’s great at what he does. He’s an excellent teacher with this really dedicated and devoted heart. But he doesn’t have a real, on-the-street understanding of the way that “normal” people conduct their day, because he’s not one of them and I suspect he never has been. And for that matter, neither have I. I graduated college with a genetics and a philosophy degree, spent a year counting fruit flies at Case Western, quit to eke by an at-home living writing sales copy, became a magazine writer, then a website guy, then started what I’m doing now. In six months, I grew the Johnny B. Truant biz from literally zero to over $6k per month and climbing fast. I’ve never worked in an office. I’ve never led a normal life.

I relate to Clay because the idea of working in an office is foreign to him. Because he’s built this whole freedom machine without instructions. Because he’s teaching people to chew through the confining walls of their own cubicles, showing folks that there is another way that things can be done. Because he takes odd hiking retreats and you can’t reach him except through five other people and maybe a few robots. Because he’s both thinking and talking about at least three separate things at once on most occasions.

Because he’s crazy. I mean, hell. Go to this post and look at the videos. Don’t watch them; just look carefully at the stills for each. Check the facial expressions. That’s one crazy guy.

Then, you could seek out my chicken video (don’t ask) and watch that.

Two crazy guys. Two crazy guys who don’t work for The Man, who make their own rules, who make a living without going into an office every day. Two crazy guys who — dare I say — have inspired a few more folks to hop on the Crazy Train along the way.

When this hit me, I said to Clay, “You know what? I don’t think I know anyone who’s successful online who isn’t crazy.”

And we kind of thought about that for a minute.

“Like you,” I told him. “You’re out of your fucking mind.”

And he laughed for like two full minutes. Fortunately it was fairly sane laughter, because had it been wild and cackling, I had three big guys in white coats with giant butterfly nets ready to haul him off.

But it’s all true, and don’t go laughing too hard at us because you’re on that train as well. If you’re reading this blog or if you’re in Project Mojave, you’re not normal.

Let me say that again: YOU ARE NOT NORMAL.

The rules of “normal” are meant for the 9-to-5 crowd. We accept them as somehow right because the 9-to-5 mentality is dominant and ubiquitous. You go to bed at a reasonable hour and wake up early. You shower, comb or brush your hair, and drive to a building. You dress well, toe the line, talk the company talk, eat a sane lunch, file your papers in an orderly fashion, suck up to your boss a little (but not too much), go home, collapse on the couch, and watch TV. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Normal people do not start “freedom businesses.” If you don’t believe me, tell a few people what you’re doing or thinking about doing and watch their reaction.

Normal people do not have online friends who they have never met. Yet the people I like the best today, who I interact with the most? I’ve never met a single one of them in person. Not one.

Normal people are not malcontent enough with “normal” that they seek to get out of it, above it, to spread their wings and be more.

And while normal people may want enough money for a newer car or a bigger television, they won’t start a new endeavor to do it if it means stepping out of the mold and into weird, unknown territory. And going beyond the realm of just that newer car or bigger television? Venturing to the realm of freedom and true purpose? Fuhgeddaboudit.

If you’re here, you’re not like those normal people. You’re crazy.

Embrace your craziness. Celebrate it. Because it means you’re halfway there.

Successful people online are successful because nobody told them that they had to do X and Y in order to fit in, or else they ignored it. Successful people are where they are because they didn’t know or didn’t care about what was “not possible.”

If you insist on being normal, you’ll live a normal-quality life. It’s like the expression says: “If you do what everyone else does, you’ll get what everyone else has.”

Embrace your weird. Embrace your crazy. The fact that you’re doing something out of the norm means you’re on the right path.

It’s like that movie Pleasantville. You should check that out, because it’s about not being normal. And it has Reese Witherspoon in it.

Chicks, dude.