The point is not being right.
The point is feeling confident enough to take action, while at the same time feeling diffident enough to keep our senses awake.
If we spend most of the day trying to be right, we lose. We lose energy, we lose focus, we lose opportunities, we lose relationships. We lose the very same resources we need to learn and progress.
Find the motivation to do in the conviction that you don’t know.
It is self-renewing energy.
There is no next step, there is no future success, there is no expected achievement.
There is just now.
And you have to learn to enjoy it.
Even when it all feels wrong.
Especially when it all feels wrong.
What do you do when someone comes to you with an idea you find hopeless or inadequate?
You denigrate the idea, saying it is a bad one and it does not deserve any of your time.
You force change onto the idea to make it fit with what you think might be a better idea.
You begin a conversation and try to compromise to get the idea nearer to you.
You support the idea and say you will do your best to help.
I guess much depends on how invested you are in the topic. A manager might find it difficult to support something that might take time and resources and return no results; a friend might be more open to keep their opinions to themselves and help instead.
Relationships are built and broken on these type of choices. Get to them with intention and care.
We read of winners, and somehow we convince ourselves that if we will apply the same tactics we will be winners too.
Of course, those tactics have been used by a countless number of people, in a countless number of situations, and they did not work. We just do not hear about that.
Success is fascinating. Not only because it puts us under the spotlight, but also because it makes others blind to the sweat, stains, and tears that have put us there. There is no magic recipe. Just a story that we craft among immense difficulties and that often gives us back much less than we expected.
Enjoy the journey. It’s the only way.
We want to protect others.
We don’t want to hurt feelings, share unpleasant truths, give negative feedback. We refrain from difficult conversations, and we let issues escalate until they become too big to be tackled. We rarely push. We almost never ask. We always assume it is not the right time.
We want to protect others. And by doing that, we protect ourselves.
It is a noble intention. Let’s just not take cover behind it every time we are not ready to leap.
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