Let’s face it. You’re a shit-disturber. A contrarian. An instigator.

Maybe you’re not getting in bar fights every weekend (although maybe you are…), but if you spend your days creating, whether that’s business, art, or ideas, my guess is that at the root, at least some of your motivation comes down to changing people, the culture, and maybe even the world in some way.

Chances are, many, if not most of those people have no interest in being changed, however.

They’re perfectly happy with the way their existence is currently playing out, or if they’re not, they’re not truly ready or committed to seek out change themselves.

Thus, in your efforts to change them, to make them see things your way, you have to become something of a shit-disturber. To upend their worldview and show them that with you, your ideas, your creations, a better way forward is possible.

I know calling you a shit-disturber might not be a polite way to start off this article, but I say it with love.

We need you. The world needs you.

There are myriad problems facing us both collectively and individually, ranging from war, famine, disease, and climate crisis in the extreme all the way down to not having any good new music on your phone.

The status quo is not going to solve these problems, at least not in a timely manner. Checklists, manuals, and reasoned debate are not going to solve these problems.

You are going to solve these problems, and you’re going to do it by going against the grain, breaking the rules, and surprising us all with something unexpected and new.

In other words, you’re going to seriously disturb some shit.

But again, most people aren’t looking for you to change them and their way of life. They’re happy with the old, the safe, the familiar.

Most people are happy with their current music, current art, current technology, current conception of the world and ideas about life and their place in the universe.

“Nothing new, please. Another round of the same. Don’t rock the boat, things are good here.”

So how do we bring our radical, shit-disturbing ideas to people who don’t want to hear them and show them our vision of a better way forward that resonates with them and invites them to come on board?

How can we create something unlike what’s come before and find an audience for it that will help us create more?

Indoctrinating Them Slowly

Give them something they’re familiar with but subtly slip in some of your art, your fresh ideas, your rebellion.

Package your work in a wrapper people already know and like, but include something unexpected and surprising. Something that might just expand their idea of what’s possible.

Sure some people might hate it. But some people will like it. And if you’re lucky, some people might really like it. And they might ask for more.

“Yes, please. More of that. I can’t get this anywhere else.”

Suddenly you have license to take your art a little further, to push the boundaries of what’s familiar and acceptable out a little more, be a little bolder in your work.

And not only do you have an audience who’s ready for your ideas, your art, your rebellion, they may actually be hungry for it. Messaging you daily asking when you’ll have new music, a new book, a new product.

Playing The Long Game

As a shit-disturber, this might be a frustrating strategy.

You want change now.

You know the problem, see the solution and if the rest of these knuckleheads could just see it we could solve it and move on to the next one.

But world-changing is a long game.

And chances are, your ideas could still use some refinement, and will only benefit from challenge, push-back, competition and collaboration.

If you just want to be different, go ahead and commit to publishing your work in its rawest most unrefined form. It might be art in its highest form, but it might not find an audience.

History is filled with near-unknowns who were too radical, too unfamiliar, too soon.

If you truly want to change peolpe, the culture, and the world however, commit to the long game.

Pique their interest by pushing just a bit outside their comfort zone, and once they give you permission to continue, spoon-feed them a little more, at their pace, as they’re ready for it.

Do it with kindness, do it with generosity, do it with empathy, and do it with patience.

Now go build your rebellion and change the world.

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