Catalyst House

Maxims for Mavericks to Live By

Alice Clifford writes: Maxims 4 Mavericks by Kent Healy tells us that the maverick of today is a free thinker, an individual living life on their own terms. He says to look toward growing upward and inward.  Kent Healy is ‘only’ 25 years old and already is well known by thousands of people young and old due to his writings.”

The Maverick

by Kent Healy

Beyond the constraints of a monotonous environment

Emerges a free mind choosing empowerment

Remaining free in spirit and in mind

The Maverick breaks through tiresome conventional binds…

And thus begins a poem addition to the recent, updated Maxims 4 Mavericks by Kent Healy, one of the original ‘Cool Stuff Guys’ at Cool Stuff Media and one of our favorite San Clemente CA neighbors. Kent and brother Kyle are known as the savvy blond surfer dudes who penned the Cool Stuff They Should Teach in School (and beyond) series, workshops and seminars.

The Cool Stuff Media pitch goes: “Creating a fulfilling and successful life requires variety of skills. Learning about French painters, calculus, chemistry, and other core academia has its place, but even the brightest students can never reach their full potential without the core-life skills that are not being addressed in school or in most homes today. Cool Stuff Media bridges this gap.”

Kent HealyBut Kent is flying solo on this one and his message is edgier and much more experiential. As Kent explains in his forward to Maxims ‘Type-2 Brain Drain – The Art of Unlearning’:

“Traditional schools of thought and conventional knowledge often lead to the reproduction of past results. Creating the new out of the old, on the other hand, requires an unconventional perspective. The last decade has shown us that many assumptions, rules, and customs from the past century do not apply today.

“But those still resolute about operating in the construct of a past era are only participating in a game of make-believe: the notion that the ‘safe’ route is the familiar route—a very dangerous misconception. As best-selling author and thought leader Seth Godin has said, in today’s world: “Safe is risky.”

But those willing to toss aside the previous perspectives of yesteryear stand to gain some incredible rewards because we’re in a time of mass transition—a stage referred to as an ‘interregnum.’ Complex word; simple meaning: The old model is dying, but the new is not yet born.

This spells immense opportunity. If you don’t see it yet, you will. The current circumstances have set the stage perfectly for the… Maverick’s era: where thinking different is not only wise, but necessary.

Without regard to the status quo

There is much more out there, that they know

Always searching and thinking too

Never accepting “no,” only “yes” will do

They inspire, create, invent, and explore

Allowing those around them to grow and know more…

Unlearning is key, Kent tells us. This sounds very Don Juan-esque. No, not the lover, but Carlos Castaneda’s Yaqui man of knowledge who extolled to Carlos the enlightened virtues of “not-seeing” and “not-doing.”

As 60s linguistic professor Alfred Korzybski taught us – the chair before us “is not a chair” – ‘chair’ is a semantical word-label construct of the mind that actually prevents us from experiencing the thing itself – a thing not separate from our own very self.

In the same sense, the rote lessons that substitute knowledge for learning in our schools and universities separate us ultimately from the innate knowledge that already resides within us. What we end up with is often not pretty: Take medicine – holistic MD Joe Mercola is not shy in pointing out that “Modern medicine is now the a leading cause of death in North America.” Clearly then unlearning is needed within healthcare … and perhaps in virtually every other endeavor as well, if we dared to unlearn what we think we know.

Healy calls upon us to…

“Be disruptors!… Instead of trying to play the game better than other participants, [Mavericks] change the game itself. They operate by rules that change the rules. It’s a new game out there—and now it’s your turn to participate.”

“You can’t do that,” they are told

But they always step forward, acting bold

They break the conformist mold and risk looking like a fool

But in the process they become the exception to the rule …

Healy’s Maverick Maxims, from the table of contents –

“Reality is negotiable”

“Perception is the problem and the opportunity”

“Logic marks the boundaries of impossibility.”

“Never assume the obvious is true.”

“Social rules and norms are often illusory assumptions.”

“Opportunity is reserved for those who seek it.”

“It’s never a lack of resources, only a lack of resourcefulness.”

“Competence is our only security.”

“Motion is not action.”

“Direction trumps distance.”

Thus, concludes Healy’s prose …

…The Maverick will not be discouraged and stop

They refuse to give up until they’re at the top

They define success and what it means to live

By accepting nothing less than the best they can give

They step up to the challenge and never abandon the cause

Helping humanity advance past its flaws

Because they think they can, Mavericks always will

They understand and use the power of free will!

Download the Free eBook now: Maxins 4 Mavericks by Kent Healy

Catalyst House