How Making A Lot of Guesses Will Lead YOU to Success.
Today I want to talk about a very simply idea, but one that is very important to put into perspective in particular for aspiring entrepreneurs. It is the difference between a "guess" (and often times an educated one), and no guess at all.
To help you with this, I am going to offer you an explanation as to what I am talking about here.
Let's use an example that applies to all of us. In school, you write a Mathematics exam. You aren't quite sure of the answer, so you end up leaving the answer blanks. I think most of us have probably done this at least once in our lives, we don't have the confidence to respond to a question, so we just leave it blank.
Is that a good approach. Heck no!
But it feels safe. In your mind, you have potentially saved yourself the ridicule of your teacher thinking that you don't know what you are talking about by making stuff up. The reality is though, the blank response shows that you are not even THINKING, which you aren't. It is a cop out, and the biggest form of failure.
Inaction is WHAT will lead you to failure.
It is the quickest and most efficient path to failure (which is not a good thing). Inaction will lead to failure in a very predictable way.
That is the reality within the entrepreneurship world too. Those that are succeeding are willing to leave an answer or do something, knowing that they could be wrong. Those that are failing at the highest rate are those that don't try something at all out of the fear of being wrong.
I can honestly say that in business there really aren't many mistakes that you can make through taking action. Action with consistency, regardless of the outcome will lead to success. You hear people jumping in "feet first" like it is some risky maneuver. But the reality is, the risk lies with those that are unwilling to take that risk.
Those that take action and fail at something, or don't do it quite right, are those that are going to learn how to properly do something with the most efficiency. How do you expect to learn if you don't apply what you learn and actually implement it.
I can't possibly get a Math question right if I leave the answer blank. I can successful shoot a basketball into a hoop if I don't shoot it in the first place. I can't build a successful business online if I don't take the action required to build that business.
Theory and reading will only take you so far in life. Applied knowledge and forcing yourself will lead you to succeeding at very high rate.
Get outside of your comfort zone. Take action, maybe fail a little....and have fun doing it. You owe it to yourself.
When was the last time you found yourself NOT doing something, out of fear of being wrong. I bet failing at it wasn't so bad.
If you have any experiences you have dealing with the "fear of failure" that lead to inaction, I would like to hear it. Also, for those of you that are action taking what do you think when you are taking action with the potential of failing? What is your approach and your mindset going into it?
Perhaps you are currently struggling with this idea and I would love if you could share your experiences, and if you have overcome this, how you went about doing that.
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That's a great principle, thank you for sharing Kyle! I never realized to think about work/entrepreneurship from that perspective before but it's completely right. Also, it's kinda relieving because it leaves room for failures.
At school, I remember that in exams I had a principle that I'll always answer something even though I wouldn't know the answer at all. Sometimes it lead to funny answers with the little hope of getting some extra points :D
Hi Kyle
Great post - as always.
I do both, inactivity stifles me though so I try to err on the side of action.
Yesterday I jumped in with both feet on a Facebook group that I have. There are 60 members in the group and I am the only one contributing. I decided to go live (had 1 whole viewer during the live video) and explained why I created the group and then asked the members to let me know why they joined the group. I also created a poll of 3 options for action during the month of August and asked the members to vote. Within a matter of hours, I received responses and engagement - YAY!!! It could have fallen flat on its face, thankfully that is not what happened.
I now have my work cut out for me because the votes have come in with two strong contenders of the three, so now I need to put the work in to provide the tools for the members to do the work and then facilitate the process during the month of August. Very cool outcome :-)
Blessings as always
Louise
It may be uncomfortable knowing that chances are we’re destined to miss many steps along the way but the climb up the ladder of success will be satisfying and rewarding when we reach the peak of success – harmonious balance in every area of life. Great post Kyle as always and thanks for sharing :-)
Hi, Kyle!
Here are my thoughts and reply to your interesting post:
The theory is fine, practice is needed to put theory in action. Both together make the winning equation. Which one is more important? Reading people's observations and experiences and then trying to act according to that or going through your own experience and build your own experience?
Sometimes going through own experiences will lead to many failures and a lot of time. But, in the end, you will become a master of the subject, if you have patience and will to do it.
If you only use the theory you may build your knowledge foundation, but you will not have the proof if it works or not. it is the conclusion out of what somebody else was explaining either through its experience or through its readings as well. The creativity is left behind.
A simple example: if you would need a new locker for your apartment, would you go to the carpenter that wrote a book about it or can describe many lockers how lockers should look and what kind of them can you build, but didn't make and produce a certain amount of lockers, or would you go to the carpenter that can show you a bunch of made lockers?
My opinion is that taking action is a must and it is most important but some theoretical support can't harm, from people that succeeded in the subject and know how it is done.
Best regards,
Igor
Thanks Kyle for sharing this timely truth.
I believe it is Orson Scott that once said and I quote "If you try and lose then it isn't your fault. But if you don't try and we lose, then it's all your fault" on quote. Thanks again for your cares.
Cheers
The human mind is fear-driven and operates for survival. What I'm practicing is to have a huge mission that drives me that dwarves any 'failure' that may come along way.
When you wanted to give, it robs the power away from the fear-driven mind.
In the context of affiliate marketing, I wanted to create a stream of income so huge that I can contribute so much back to society.
Having a website that's not making money is not a failure. Being awful at writing is not a failure.
At the end of the day, it's important to ask what we've learned and do we grow from the experience.
Making mistakes is not a failure. If you're not growing, then that's a failure.
I have a great idea for building my business but it involves doing something I don’t know how to do and using software I’ve never used before - so I have been procrastinating on it for weeks now.
I keep finding excuses not to start or other small tasks to do instead.
Thanks for this post Kyle - it’s a timely reminder to grasp the nettle and get started.
Thanks Kyle, the fear of failure is a big deal to so many people.
I have to admit I sometimes am guilty of not wanting to put something out there until I feel happy that I am not going to make a fool out of myself.
I guess I have to insert a new mindset and get my ideas and thoughts out there with the thought that if it is published it could help someone and it has the potential to help lots of people.
I appreciate your help and input.
Best wishes
Gaz
Ouch...spot on.. Feeling overwhelmed...thougts of perfection...I have to get everything/it right from the start...all these are beliefs and thougts that stop me from taking action. Thanks for throwing it in my face ;-) I will take action today, by simply picking up the training again...
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I can say I am fortunate my wins have come through a lot of guess work, I love taking risks and today I made a decision with fear that I thought might go wrong though it was not what I had hoped for but A positive response came out and I felt good because I took action great read