A few weeks ago I found a few really helpful tips on how to avoid being criticized. To think that all these years I could have lived without being criticized.

Nine Easy Rules to Avoid Being Criticized ^[1] Nagesh Belludi. 26 September 2010. Nine Easy Rules to Avoid Being Criticized. http://www.rightattitudes.com/2010/09/26/nine-easy-rules-to-avoid-being-criticized [Link]

• Rule 1: Always strive to please others and agree with everybody
• Rule 2: Do not attempt to change people’s minds
• Rule 3: Do not try a new idea or pursue any worthwhile goal
• Rule 4a: Conform to established ways of doing everything
• Rule 4b: Never step a foot away from the path of convention
• Rule 5: Follow the crowd; stand for nothing unique
• Rule 6: Let the world shape you; be who others want you to be
• Rule 7a: Accept life “as is” and never examine the status quo
• Rule 7b: Believe whatever you are told without checking evidence
• Rule 8: Do not say, attempt, or do anything contentious or imaginative
• Rule 9: Do not say, attempt, or accomplish anything at all

As I read these I was reminded of the Think Different campaign by Apple, Inc a few years back. I have always been inspired by the comercial. Perhaps I have always identified with not giving into the status quo. I think my Dad instilled in me a desire for excellence and doing better. This was something that Steve Jobs talked about too. He said we don’t ship junk. It makes a lot of sense: Be profitable, be honorable. Love what you do. Do what is right. Never stop learning.

httpv://youtu.be/cFEarBzelBs

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.

httpv://youtu.be/Yu0qeb_rJYU