--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The key to success is to risk thinking…" description: "\"The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress.\" — Trevor Baylis" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/035/trevor-baylis-34224_convention_the-key-to-success-is-to-risk-thinking-u_2737122.png" --- # The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional… ![“The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress.” quote by Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/035/trevor-baylis-34224_convention_the-key-to-success-is-to-risk-thinking-u_2737122.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/035/trevor-baylis-34224_convention_the-key-to-success-is-to-risk-thinking-u_2737122.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/035/trevor-baylis-34224_convention_the-key-to-success-is-to-risk-thinking-u_2737122.png) > “The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress.” [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Success requires unconventional thinking; adhering to norms hinders progress. **In simple terms:** Thinking differently drives success. Key Takeaway Challenge conventions to innovate. Themes innovation risk‑taking progress Mood motivational assertive Type business philosophical When to use this quote - startup pitch - product design - strategic planning Key Concepts creative thinking disruption entrepreneurship Questions to Reflect On - What norm could you question today? - How do you balance risk with practicality? A Different Perspective Unconventional ideas may face resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Convention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/convention/) [Convention Enemy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/convention-enemy-3000002/) [Conventions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventions/) [Enemy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enemy/) [Enemy of progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enemy-of-progress/) [Key to success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/key-to-success/) [Keys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/keys/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progress/) [Risk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/risk/) [Success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success/) [Success Risk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success-risk-871752/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thinking Unconventional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking-unconventional-3000000/) [Thoughts Convention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts-convention-3000001/) [Unconventional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unconventional/) ## Related quotes > [You can not achieve success without the risk of failure. If you are not afraid to fail, than you have a chance, but you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-heyman/you-can-not-achieve-success-without-the-risk-of-failure-if-you-are/) [Paul Heyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-heyman/) > [“One default Item of success is risk, those who take the risk will get the dish”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aabas-sadkani/one-default-item-of-success-is-risk-those-who-take-the-risk-will-get/) [Aabas Sadkani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aabas-sadkani/) > [In some ways, it's easier to settle for someone else's version of success than to risk falling short at one's own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-buffett/in-some-ways-it-s-easier-to-settle-for-someone-else-s-version-of/) [Peter Buffett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-buffett/) > [You cannot achieve success without the risk of failure. And I learned a long time ago, you cannot achieve success, if you fear failure.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-heyman/you-cannot-achieve-success-without-the-risk-of-failure-and-i-learned/) [Paul Heyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-heyman/) > [You cannot achieve success without the risk of failure...You cannot achieve success if you FEAR failure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-heyman/you-cannot-achieve-success-without-the-risk-of-failure-you-cannot/) [Paul Heyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-heyman/) > [Corruption is one of the greatest enemies of progress in our time. It is the cancer at the heart of so many of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cameron/corruption-is-one-of-the-greatest-enemies-of-progress-in-our-time-it/) [David Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cameron/) > [The greatest enemy of progress is not stagnation, but false progress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-j-harris/the-greatest-enemy-of-progress-is-not-stagnation-but-false-progress/) [Sydney J. Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-j-harris/) > [The triumph of the Confederacy... would be a victory for the powers of evil which would give courage to the enemies of progress and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stuart-mill/the-triumph-of-the-confederacy-would-be-a-victory-for-the-powers-of/) [John Stuart Mill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stuart-mill/) > [Free time is the enemy of progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/casey-neistat/free-time-is-the-enemy-of-progress/) [Casey Neistat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/casey-neistat/) > [Self-conceit is the enemy of progress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bion-of-borysthenes/self-conceit-is-the-enemy-of-progress/) [Bion of Borysthenes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bion-of-borysthenes/) > [If a person is poor - the marriage is as big as the enemy of progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/if-a-person-is-poor-the-marriage-is-as-big-as-the-enemy-of-progress/) [Mak\_786](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mak-786/) > [The greatest enemy of progress is your last success, you could become so proud of what you've already accomplished that you stop moving ahead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/myles-munroe/the-greatest-enemy-of-progress-is-your-last-success-you-could-become/) [Myles Munroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/myles-munroe/) > [“Success! Success! The enemy of progress!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-degas/success-success-the-enemy-of-progress/) [Edgar Degas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-degas/) > [The United States has been declared under martial law...All constitutional rights have been suspended. Anyone interfering with the collection of urine samples will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jello-biafra/the-united-states-has-been-declared-under-martial-law-all/) [Jello Biafra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jello-biafra/) > [The quest for certainty in forecasting outcomes can be the enemy of progress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nate-silver/the-quest-for-certainty-in-forecasting-outcomes-can-be-the-enemy-of/) [Nate Silver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nate-silver/) ## More by Trevor Baylis > [I was on automatic pilot; ideas for gadgets kept coming, fed by a force of energy flowing through me and around me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/i-was-on-automatic-pilot-ideas-for-gadgets-kept-coming-fed-by-a-force/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [Ideas for gadgets for the disabled were coming into my head so fast they seemed to be arriving from somewhere outside of me, beamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/ideas-for-gadgets-for-the-disabled-were-coming-into-my-head-so-fast/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [That was the Alka-Seltzer moment, the moment when the tablet hits the water and begins to fizz.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/that-was-the-alka-seltzer-moment-the-moment-when-the-tablet-hits-the/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [I'd work eighteen-hour stretches and fall asleep in my clothes. Then I'd wake up in the middle of the night, brew a pot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/i-d-work-eighteen-hour-stretches-and-fall-asleep-in-my-clothes-then-i/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [A good idea turns every cog in your mind, making you scared of bed in case the whole machine grinds to a halt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/a-good-idea-turns-every-cog-in-your-mind-making-you-scared-of-bed-in/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [All inventors, they say, are a little mad. I reckon that only completely sane people are willing to admit they are slightly crazy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/all-inventors-they-say-are-a-little-mad-i-reckon-that-only-completely/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [But having had your bright, fresh, original idea, the really hard part is turning it into a successful product. That's what takes all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/but-having-had-your-bright-fresh-original-idea-the-really-hard-part/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [The notion that inventors are anorak-wearing crackpots with glasses held together with Sellotape is beguiling but wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/the-notion-that-inventors-are-anorak-wearing-crackpots-with-glasses/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [Invention isn't some impenetrable brand of magic; anyone can have a go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/invention-isn-t-some-impenetrable-brand-of-magic-anyone-can-have-a-go/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [Visionaries and dreamers have always been dusted with a little oddity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/visionaries-and-dreamers-have-always-been-dusted-with-a-little-oddity/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [As long as you've got slightly more perception than the average wrapped loaf, you could invent something,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/as-long-as-you-ve-got-slightly-more-perception-than-the-average/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [But there is only one person I blame for getting shafted, and that's myself. I went into the deal which I thought would secure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/but-there-is-only-one-person-i-blame-for-getting-shafted-and-that-s/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) > [Do what gives you a buzz.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-baylis/do-what-gives-you-a-buzz/) [Trevor Baylis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) [Explore all 14 Trevor Baylis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-baylis/) ## More Convention quotes > [No one familiar with the common law of England can read the Constitution of the United States without observing the great desire of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-freeman-miller/no-one-familiar-with-the-common-law-of-england-can-read-the/) [Samuel Freeman Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-freeman-miller/) > [“He needed the people and the clamour around him. There was no questions and no doubts when he stood on a platform over a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/he-needed-the-people-and-the-clamour-around-him-there-was-no/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Only in Washington would the Republican operatives get the entire press corps ginned up over the notion that I'm going to be home campaigning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-mccaskill/only-in-washington-would-the-republican-operatives-get-the-entire/) [Claire McCaskill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-mccaskill/) > [“We'd been trying so hard to look like our heroes, we'd kinda forgotten what a hero really is. Capes, masks, powers — sure, that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikko/we-d-been-trying-so-hard-to-look-like-our-heroes-we-d-kinda-forgotten/) [Mikko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikko/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The calendar? A mere convention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irina-ratushinskaya/the-calendar-a-mere-convention/) [Irina Ratushinskaya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irina-ratushinskaya/) > [The United States, a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, destroyed the last of its stocks of VX and other chemical agents on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barton-gellman/the-united-states-a-signatory-to-the-chemical-weapons-convention/) [Barton Gellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barton-gellman/) > [A convention is a social pattern we have chosen to prefer over whatever the raw world simply proffers. It is a sign of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-bartlett-giamatti/a-convention-is-a-social-pattern-we-have-chosen-to-prefer-over/) [A. Bartlett Giamatti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-bartlett-giamatti/) > [“Yielding to convention yields nothing new.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-disilvio/yielding-to-convention-yields-nothing-new/) [Rich DiSilvio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rich-disilvio/) > [Society's the mother of convention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/society-s-the-mother-of-convention/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [There's a War Crimes Act in the United States passed by a Republican Congress in 1996, which says that grave breaches of the Geneva…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-s-a-war-crimes-act-in-the-united-states-passed-by-a-republican/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [A political convention is just not a place where you come away with any trace of faith in human nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-kempton/a-political-convention-is-just-not-a-place-where-you-come-away-with/) [Murray Kempton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-kempton/) > [The difference between a GOP convention and Comic-Con is that the people at Comic-Con have a much firmer grasp of reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/the-difference-between-a-gop-convention-and-comic-con-is-that-the/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [I am exceedingly distressed at the proceedings of the Convention-being ... almost sure, they will ... lay the foundation of a Civil War.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbridge-gerry/i-am-exceedingly-distressed-at-the-proceedings-of-the-convention/) [Elbridge Gerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbridge-gerry/) > [Convention, so often a mask for injustice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-hamilton/convention-so-often-a-mask-for-injustice/) [Edith Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-hamilton/) [Browse all 182 Convention quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/convention/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. 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