Delusion is your secret weapon against mediocrity

—and an AI prompt to get started

Jul 08, 2025

Six months ago, I told my brother I wanted to work for myself.

In the nicest way possible, he said "I don't think that's realistic, you don't have enough experience, who's going to want to work with you?". It stung. Family should support you. They should back your crazy ideas. But family want what's safest for you. Family don't want to see you taking risks.

Fast forward to now, I'm working for myself and I'm making money.

After six months of seeing my bank balance dwindle, it's going up again.

Lesson? The only way you're going to get what you want is if you block out what everyone else thinks you should do and focus on your delusion.

I've only ever worked a "real job" for three years. Experience is overrated. It's just words on a piece of paper that make you look good. What matters more is what you're willing to do. How you show up. Whether you back yourself to follow through on your craziness.

How much shit are you willing to throw at the wall?

Most of it will slide down. But one thing will stick. The delusional person keeps throwing shit at the wall until something sticks.

Being delusional is a good thing—it means you're not living the same boring life as everyone else.

Why playing it safe is the riskiest move you'll ever make

I'm going to take a guess that you're not where you want to be because you worry too much what other people think of you.

It's the people who've not done anything with their lives who tell you be realistic with your ambition. Every time I tell a friend or family member what I'm doing or run an idea by them, they think I'm nuts. I get weird looks and a list of twenty questions about why I've chosen what I've chosen. All of a sudden, they become an expert.

The best thing you can do is shut up and keep your ideas close to your chest

Most people will call you crazy for doing something "outside the box".

Nobody understands why you make the choices you do—only you get it.

You get it because you take risks for what you believe in.

How many people are putting their reputation on the line for something they care about?

Very few. In my life, I know nobody who is. Only me.

The biggest mistake you can make with life is play small.

It's not logical to close yourself off into a little box and hide from the world. Life inside the box is boring. It's dark. Cramped. Stuffy. Bland.

Life outside the box is beautiful. Push yourself through the top. Make noise. Cause a big mess. Throw shit at the wall.

Playing small is a cop out for people who aren't willing to do something with their life. It's lazy. You have to take risks for what you believe in. Be the odd one out. I didn't for 28 years and I slowly felt myself dying. I started being the odd one out last year and I'm finally alive again.

When someone says "be realistic", they're really saying "stay small like me"

I jumped out of a plane in The Philippines three months ago.

It was the must unbelievable experience of my life. I still get shivers when I think about it. I can't believe I did it. I called my friend afterward, and the first thing he said was "You're the last person I would have expected to jump out of a plane". He was right.

I've always been the normal one in the group. I love travelling, sure. But when it comes to being the centre of attention or doing something remotely wild, I play it safe. I don't like letting loose. I don't like making a fool of myself. I have "boring" hobbies like reading, writing, going for walks, working out with my phone in the locker so I can focus.

Anyway, when my friend told me that, it made me think.

Why have I finally decided to start living?

One year ago I would have laughed if you asked me to jump out of a plane. You'd have had to pay me a lot of money. But I did it. And nobody paid me.

I guess the reason I did it was because I met somebody who didn't want to play small. Somebody who took risks. Someone who loved adventure. And that wore off on me.

I drove my motorbike to the jumping zone without realising I was about to jump out of a plane.

If someone calls you crazy for doing something, there might be some admiration in there. But beneath that, there's always a little bit of their own insecurities boiling up.

People who never move, never take risks, and live the same life every year for seventy-five years won't understand why you do what you do. They'll call you crazy because they want you to stay where they are.

When you do something out of the blue, something that's not "typical" of you, it makes people insecure. People finally have evidence change is possible. Everyday someone doesn't choose change, they're reminded it's because they choose to stay where they are.

Being labelled crazy is a compliment.

It means you're not living normally like the rest of society who are:

Depressed because life isn't exciting
Dying more than they're living
Trapped inside a little box

Jump out of the plane and get labelled crazy—it's a good thing.

Success is just delusion that refused to quit

Success is a natural by-product of withstanding the test of time.

How do you think the people who seem to have it all figured out "made" it?

Well, they were just the same as us. They're not superhuman. The only difference between them and you is a verb: action. Delusion got them started. Action kept them moving. When action wasn't enough, delusion took over and helped them take even more action. A lot of it.

Moving forward when nobody believes in you is a superpower.

You must make yourself the main character of your life.

In the process, realise that you mean nothing. If you died, only 0.00000001% of the human race would know about it. You'll be forgotten in no time.

Nobody has everything figured out right from the start.

The people who seem to have it figured out just started moving.

They were scared out of their mind and thought about giving up more than once. But the reward for being delusional is eventual success.

Failure is a choice—it only exists if you let it.

You'll start something because you believe in it. But you'll get countless signals to stop moving forward. The world will tell you give up. These moments make or break you. Things will only make sense if you continue being delusional and move forward.

The biggest mistake I see people with a lot of ambition make?

Believing successful people got there because they were insanely smart.

Most people who have it all figured out are probably not even as smart as you. Their stupidity is what got them started and kept them showing up. Action beats everything else.

Smart people are over-thinkers. They plan everything out. They try and connect all the dots. They don't realise it's virtually impossible to connect all the dots before they start moving. They come to their "smart" and "logical" conclusion that it's just not the right thing for them. And that they "tried". No, you didn't. You barely got started. You got in your own way.

If someone seems to have it figured out? It wasn't always this way.

Being delusional is the first step to success. Everyday you must choose to be delusional. At first, it's hard. Then, you love it so much it's the only thing that makes sense in this crazy world. When you pick delusion and match it with action, it's just a waiting game.

Are you willing to keep showing up and putting in the effort when you're not being rewarded?

There's a 0% chance you won't succeed if you continue moving forward.

Delusion is not a defect—and progress is the effect

There's nothing wrong with being labelled the crazy one.

Some of my friends see what I'm doing with my life now and say "Where has the old Stefano gone?". I tell them I buried him a year ago, I'll never go back to dig him up.

I'm a completely different person now.

Life has taken a big, fat flip over the last year and I fucking love it.

Just because your ambitions have shifted and people from your real life don't get it, doesn't mean you're crazy. It's crazy to live your life the same way every single day and expect different outcomes from the majority.

There's no fun in living the same life as everyone else. Just look how most people live. They hate their lives.

Do something different.

I only realised this after 28 years on God's green earth.

While most people are sweating one out trying to stuff themselves through the same door, you're hanging in the background observing it all. You see what's going on. You can't believe your eyes. You were once there. You now realise how stupid you were for following the sheep.

You come to the conclusion you want no part in this.

You explore.

You walk a 50km in the dark. It's dirty, depressingly isolating, and full of shit. You get a bit nervous at first because nobody else is on this route. Slowly, you start to enjoy it. The shit disappears and flowers appear. It smells great. The colours make you happy. It's blissful. You actually enjoy being alone.

Nobody understands why you decided to walk away from the door which seemed like the easiest route to the other side. But you do.

Your delusion brought you to a new door nobody has ever been to.

Walking through feels effortless. The effect of being delusional is being rewarded with something few people will ever find. You discover things nobody else ever has. You arrive at your own door.

Walking through it is so easy. Now you're on the other side.

In the distance you see everyone else trying to get through the door.

After fighting with each other, they look up and see you off in the distance. You wave. They're left jaw open wondering how the hell you got there.

Passion + delusion = unstoppable force

I've realised I'm a generalist and there are too many things I like.

After a year of reflection I now know the reason I never fully committed to one thing: there was never one "thing" that unified all my interests.

My energy was always scattered. I'd felt like I worked hard in my jobs but always arrived at the same feeling at 5pm—I was drained but still had a restless air following me around. It never left me alone.

Why did I have this restless air lingering over me?

Because I didn't accomplish anything meaningful to ME.

Now, I have something that unifies my interests and consumes my energy.

This one thing is writing.

I love it—and it's the best thing I ever started doing.

I care about building an online identity.
I care about getting words onto a page.
I care about connecting with other writers.
I care about how I communicate those words.
I care about emptying my mind of my thoughts.
I care about how my words impact other people.
I care about caring how my writing comes across.
I care about creating more content than I consume.

If you're going to be delusional, pick something you care about.

I'm delusional with my writing-related goals. I want to write books. I want people to find my writing so useful they pay me to sit at my laptop and type. I want to help people discover what they're capable of achieving if they just take responsibility for their lives and stop postponing themselves. I want to use my passion for writing to be wherever I want to be in the world and just smash my keyboard so ferociously like I'm doing right now. God, I love it!

Your chance at success is 100x if you do something you care about.

When you're pursuing your curiosities you never feel like you're slogging through your boring 9-5 where the only excitement is office drama.

Delusion and passion are a dangerous combo.

It's a Saturday night while I write this. And while the majority of London are out necking pints and will be feeling awful about themselves tomorrow morning, I'm sat behind my laptop being delusion. This is my version of a Saturday night out.

The moment everyone stops laughing and starts asking "how?"

I tell myself I don't care what others think about me, but I still do.

I don't know why—maybe I should talk to a therapist and see where it comes from. Or, I'll just keep writing about it and hope somebody comes along and figures it out for me. Or, I could just throw all my writing into ChatGPT and ask it to identify why I might care about what others think about me.

Anyway, if you're being labelled as the crazy one right now—you're not alone.

Just know that one day it's going to pay off.

It's only a matter of time. Because the only thing in your way is time.

Can you stand the test of time?
How badly do you want this thing?
And how long are you willing to work without reward for what you want?

Keep showing up. Keep being the crazy one. Keep making an impact.

Allow everyone to laugh at you—it's a good thing.

People from my life see my LinkedIn posts about running a business, ultra-processed foods and email marketing. They might think my identity has been hacked. I know they're most likely talking behind my back, saying stuff like "What the hell is Stefano writing about?".

I decided to do something very few people I know are because I have a delusional idea for what I want my life to look like. For me to achieve this delusional plan, I need to take calculated steps. One of them is building my Substack and LinkedIn audience. There's a strong reason behind me writing on LinkedIn even though I don't really like it.

There is a 0% chance my delusion won't pay off if I continue showing up.

Eventually, everyone will wonder how I did it.

I guess my answer will be the following:

I decided to do something crazy even when people in my life told me "I wasn't experienced and people wouldn't want to work with me".
I jumped out the plane once, loved the feeling, and kept chasing the feeling of doing things I thought I wasn't prepared for.
I showed up in public and risked looking like a twat.
I chose something I cared about to be delusional for.
I decided to walk the extra 50km through the dirty, stinky mud when everyone was trying to ram through a single door.
I found my own door, walked through it, saw everyone struggling to fit through one door, waved at them, left them gobmacked and continued on my own journey.

Nobody is going to figure anything out for you.

When you do figure it out, people will ask "How did you do it?".

Just know that the majority of the people who ask this would have been the ones who were laughing at you behind your back.

Polarity. There's no sanity without insanity.

Most people are stuck in the middle. So they live some mediocre life that never really challenges them. When you make it, people will understand why you chose the insane route. You are now the sane one.

The 24-step DELUSION framework + an AI prompt to help you out

If you want to be delusional like me, here's a 24-step framework for you that synthesises everything I've written in today's article. Hope this is helpful, let me know if you have any questions.

Also, I’m working on a project to help you implement what you’re learning into your own life. My idea is to create AI prompts to go along with the articles. Think of it as “downloading” my brain, talking with me, and solving the same problem in your life.

Break Free Prompts 🤖

D → Dismiss doubters

Block out negative voices (including well-meaning friends who say "be realistic")
Recognize that people who haven't achieved what you want will try to keep you where they are
Use criticism as fuel rather than letting it extinguish your fire

E → Embrace the crazy label

Welcome being called "unrealistic" or "out of your mind"
Understand that being labeled crazy means you're not living like everyone else who's trapped in their box
Take it as a compliment when people don't recognize the "old you"

L → Leap before you’re ready

Jump out of planes (literally and metaphorically) even when it terrifies you
Start moving before you have all the answers
Choose action over endless planning and dot-connecting

U → Unify around what you care about

Find the one thing that consumes your energy positively (like writing did for you)
Be delusional about something that makes you smile while doing it
Let passion amplify your chances of success

S → Show up publicly

Risk looking like a "twat" in public
Post about your journey even when people think your identity got hacked
Continue showing up despite knowing people are talking behind your back

I → Invest time relentlessly

Remember: there's a 0% chance you fail if you keep investing time
Measure success by how long you're willing to work for what you want
Trust that showing up consistently will eventually pay off

O → Own your 50km walk

Take the path nobody else is willing to walk
Endure the dirty, stinky mud while others fight for one door
Find your own door and walk through it

N → Navigate your main character arc

Make yourself the protagonist of your life story
Bury old versions of yourself and refuse to dig them up
Accept that most people won't understand your journey—and that's okay

If you want help implementing this in your own life by “downloading” a part of my brain and having a back and forth with AI, then check out this project I’m working on!

Stop waiting for permission to be extraordinary

Your delusion isn't madness—it's momentum.

While others debate possibilities, you're already walking through doors they never knew existed.

The world needs more crazy people willing to jump.

Be delusional about your dreams.

Jump out of the plane.

Your parachute will open.

I hope this was good to know.

Talk soon,

Stefano

P.S.: In the spirit of delusion, I’m working on a project to help people implement my ideas for themselves. Because it’s all well and good reading, but if you’re not doing anything to implement, it’s contrary to my goal.

So, my idea is to create AI prompts to go along with the articles. Think of it as “downloading” my brain, talking with me, and solving the same problem in your life.

Here's the prompt library I’m building out. The first prompt is built for this article. If you use it, can you let me know what you think?