The enigma that is eccentricity can be understood by grasping this single statement:

That which you perceive is a function of the object of your perception and your apparatus of perception.

Eccentricity, then, is as much a quirk of the popular mind as it is of any particular person. So, with the assumption that you seek the freedom and output that comes with having ideas that nobody else does — here’s how to think like a mad man, find your edge and risk little for lots.

How to think:

It may sound peculiar that contrary thinking is required to achieve creative thoughts… This, however, becomes self-evident when we realize that thinking the way someone else thinks results in mimicry — a “copy-cat” requires the minimum of creative thought… Therefore, the inference is that to achieve any creativeness, some change has to be made. From this, it stands to reason that the optimum in creativeness must approach the maximum change… and the maximum change must be close to the opposite.

— Zuce Kogan, Founder of the Creative Thinking Institute. Quote from The Art of Contrary Thinking

Step 1: Rid Yourself of Nebulous Terms

Define, redefine and refine.

Nebulosity (hazy thinking) is your enemy. If you speak and think in vague terms, then simple, logical deductions are likely to evade you. And since life involves doing one thing or another, chances are that you’ll default to linking concepts in the ‘default’ way — and doing the uninspiring thing.

The power of words is bound up with the images they evoke, and is quite independent of their real significance. Words whose sense is the most ill-defined are sometimes those that possess the most influence. Such, for example, are the terms democracy, socialism, equality, liberty, etc. whose meaning is so vague that bulky volumes do not suffice to precisely fix it. Yet it is certain that a truly magical power is attached to those short syllables, as if they contained the solution of all problems. They synthesise the most diverse unconscious aspirations and the hope of their realisation.

— Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd, A Study of the Popular Mind

Since the crowd deals in vague images, one clear way to surpass it is to define the terms in which you speak and think.

This can seem daunting — especially at first. But don’t worry. Since the crowd is slow and dogmatic, it takes but a very small amount of clarity to achieve oversized gains. One need not redefine one’s entire vocabulary — just start with one concept and go from there.

Step 2: Allocate All of Your Available Resources Contrarily

Time, money, attention, the lot…

Contrary allocation of money is well-acknowledged as a key to success in investment and entrepreneurial communities. However, it remains compartmentalized as a theory about allocating money and money alone.

I say that if you wish to reach the honorable status of a ‘Mad Man’, it’s prudent to apply this theory to all of the resources at your disposal — to your time, energy and attention. The integrated eccentric is he who doesn’t give up in any of these fields.

Whenever you are next faced with a seemingly trivial matter (such as whether or not to read a newspaper, take a taxi or express interest in an uninteresting matter) allow yourself to consider what the ‘common way’ is and just try the opposite.

Step 3: Adopt a Kantian Distaste for Intellectual Discussion

And stop checking with others.

Most of the time it is not necessary to get the approval of others before you act. Yet that’s what we all tend to do. We check and verify even the most trivial matters with one another. This brings about two serious drawbacks; 1) it forces you to adopt the conventions of language, thought and standards of others and 2) it introduces unneeded emotions about otherwise neutral matters.

In order to acquire the sense of creativity you’re capable of I suggest that you act before you tell others about it. Adopt a Kantian distaste for intellectual discussion:

By and large Kant, unlike Socrates, avoided the company of philosophers and philosophically minded fellow citizens. He did this not because of any conviction that philosophers as a breed are inevitably frivolous or consumed by the need to prattle on about their most recent publications; some are, to be sure, and these one would seek to avoid in any case. He was certainly aware that in his field of study there existed colleagues with whom he could talk about bank accounts, ball games or battle plans. But philosophers tend to talk about philosophy. And even if such talk is motivated by infinite charity and fraternal goodwill, it provokes some response, comment or counter-argument to the ideas and theories presented. In print the same arguments have quite a different impact; they can be simply registered without requiring an immediate response, or can be interpreted to suit one’s frame of mind, and as a last resort a page can be turned and a book can be closed. But in conversation courtesy demands that the addressee react and relate himself. And this, in Kant’s view, is a dangerous exercise and one that certainly lacks the productive element that Socrates may have found in it. Philosophers, or so Kant thought, work best in isolation…

— From the introduction of Critique of Pure Reason (Penguin Classics)

Step 4: Test Your Revelations in Small Ways

Proceed to fail small and win big.

So by now maybe you’ve defined a term that has significance to you, considered allocating your time, attention and money contrarily and considered doing something without checking with anyone at all.

Now the natural reaction is to elaborate a plan in a way that requires significant resources (time, money, energy, attention or whatever else). I urge you to take a step back and consider how you might test it in the smallest possible way.

I’m always astounded by the degree to which people attempt to impose the property of permanence upon themselves. [facepalm] Why oh why? [/facepalm] I suggest that if you wish to maintain your newfound eccentric temperament and demeanour, then risk little, lots rather than lots, little. If you risk little, lots you will not suffer the emotional turmoil that accompanies being different — and if you’re thinking contrarily you’ll likely be risking little for lots.

Step 5: Acquire A Refined Sense of Ignorance

A Master Key

The final step to blissful quirkdom is to maintain a refined sense of ignorance.

In the first instance, I should define what I mean:

By ignorance, I mean a lack of knowledge.

In this sense, a ‘refined sense of ignorance’ is an application of step 2. By carefully selecting what enters your mind, you can maintain a temperament where you decide the content of your ignorance. This term — most commonly used as an insult — is in this sense neutral. We all must be lacking in knowledge (since we are not beings of perfect intelligence). Acquiring a refined sense of ignorance means rejecting the notion that other people should determine what you pay attention to.

Go forth and be awesome!

Recommended Reading:

[We adore these books and recommend them to everybody interested in the contrary way of life.]