Tag: failure

Only once

FabrizioLeave a comment

It’s rarely as bad as we think it is.

It’s rarely as bad as we think it will be.

We put stakes on the things that happen to us and we never pause to think that it is us who determine how important outcomes are.

Is failing at a job truly that disastrous?

Is delivering a project late really so determinant of the company’s future success?

Is expressing our doubts or asking a difficult question truly going to jeopardize the relationship with a friend?

If a behavior is repeated across time, it is wise to take note and try to address it. But if it happens only once, is it really going to be that bad?

Probably not.

Time to heal

FabrizioLeave a comment

You need to give wounds proper time to heal.

Of course, you want to get back to work. Of course, you want people to accept your point of view and get back to their tasks. Of course, you are all working on something bigger and the time spent grieving is time not spent pursuing a new opportunity.

But wounds do not heal as fast as you’d want them to. People do not heal as fast as you’d want them to. You do not heal as fast as you’d want to.

Give it time. And in the process, do listen. You will learn something about wounds, people, and yourself.

Getting ready for the next wound.

Give before you ask

FabrizioLeave a comment

You have to give before you can ask.

Lead with your expertise, your point of view, your research, your data, your guests, your knowledge before you actually ask to sign up. Even better, never ask. Set up a vision for your world so unique and appealing that people will want to be part of it without you even having to ask.

Sometimes you might get lucky. You might have people onboard before you have to do anything. That “free trial” banner might get enough curiosity for it to actually have an impact on your top line.

But don’t let luck misdirect you.

You have to give before you can ask.

Blessings

FabrizioLeave a comment

Mistakes are a blessing.

If you have the patience to acknowledge them, accept them, analyse them, and discuss them, they are the easiest and surest way to become better at what you are trying to do.

Tension

FabrizioLeave a comment

We live in the tension between a version of us we despise and a version of us we would like to become.

And we also live in the tension between our failures, which we see so vividly, and other people’s successes, which we fantasise a lot about.

When we get going, we often reach for the positive extreme. We are at our best and we aim to emulate those who have succeeded before. We know we can. Then we meet criticism, bad weather, rejection, difficulties of various kind, and we fall to the negative extreme. We are suddenly incapable to complete the most trivial task, unworthy of anybody’s attention, care, empathy.

Most reality, though, happens in the middle. And that’s also where we can anchor to achieve real and incremental progress.

It’s when we embrace the version of us we are today and the work we are doing today – neither bad nor good – that we get rid of the tension and we can start enjoying the journey.