Wouldn’t it be wonderful to succeed at almost ANYTHING, and do that 200% quicker/sooner?!
If you can screw up the courage to make a few mistakes along the way, then you can learn quicker. You will find solutions sooner. You will separate what works from that which does not work in about half the time. Here’s the secret:
As soon as you have a decent amount of information, make a decision!
Over a hundred years ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a brilliant thinker, philosophised that when it comes to the defining moments in our lives, if we simply make the best decisions we can, AT THAT MOMENT IN TIME, and TRUST THE OUTCOMES to the mysterious, esoteric, hidden, profound powers of the Universe, we will define ourselves and our roles within the cosmos. That boldness to make a decision based on our very best choices, at that moment in time, is the path that constructs our learning experiences and that, in turn, helps to reshape our personalities and our roles within the cosmos and our society. It is the very essence of our own, personal experiences that make each of us unique and that allows each one of us to have a unique vision of the future.
What Emerson taught is the very same trust in outcomes that resulted in those people we regard are history’s greatest achievers. You have what they have. But they had the courage to dedicate their lives to making their visions a reality.
Steve Jobs, of Apple and Pixar fame, through circumstances within his life that were totally unique from that of yours or anyone else’s, as a youngster, in his early teens, using knowledge imparted to him by his upbringing, by his parents, and by early studies of electronics, was able to work at a great company doing repairs of computers and computer parts. It was that very early introduction, hands on experimentation, to computer technology, to electronics during the evolutionary stages into the digital world, that allowed early stages of a unique vision that he and only he could appreciate at that time. Years later, after his personality firmed and his confidence was emboldened…and his spirit was soaring…he pushed technologies, talents surrounding him, and suppliers to create what we now know as the output of those great companies called APPLE and PIXAR.
Along the way he was constantly told the impossible was, well, …”Impossible!!” Yet, he did it. Those around him did it.
He took information available at the time, surrounded himself with more talent, and then pushed talent to think outside of the proverbial box to invent solutions to insurmountable problems. [Nothing can stand in the way of the human mind…but one’s ego.] He did. They did. The result was to revolutionize an entire world. He and they, affected billions of people. A point repeatedly being made by Diamandis in his works designed to inspire more innovation in the world.
The Jobs experience, the jobs story itself, is repeated millions of times.
It all starts with early exposure to knowledge, experiences, one’s environment, and so on. Each person’s exposure is unique. Therefore, we ought to expect that each person’s ability to innovate is also unique. Yet, there are tools in common from one innovator to another. They make decisions based on the best information at the time and then they march toward acting on that information and that decision.
Another key point is that they know no limitation but themselves. No excuses. Environment is not an excuse. Money is not an excuse. Knowledge is not an excuse. Whatever the limitation, those greatest of innovators see such events as obstacles, not barriers, and every obstacle is overcome in one way or another. Their end game is always to innovate. To bring a result to the forefront and to make it happen despite the many resisting milestones along the way.
The only limiter to achievement and innovation in any endeavour is your mind and spirit.
Your mind and spirit is what overcomes any limitation, even that of one’s environment–meaning “spirit” as in personal drive, ambition, courage, willingness, discipline.
No life is perfect. no life is pure. No life conforms 100% to the mores, rules, regulations, laws of any society at any point in time. Yet, every life is able to innovate.
Innovation is scarce and viewed as unique largely because most people fear making mistakes.
My estimation, a guess at best, is that 99.99% of people, including those we regard as leaders, live their lives by decisions and opinions restricted by fear of ridicule, embarrassment, ostracising, labels, etc. The BOLD are the ones who, despite that fear, are able to harness that fear of bruising their own egos and rise above it. They are the ones who will experiment to see what innovations might work and are willing to pick themselves up from failures and will to try again and again. With each try they get one step closer to what will work.
For innovators:
Visions must be born. Dreams must be placed on concrete foundations that they form and shape through perspiration as well as inspiration. The future must be touched by something new…and they want to be the ones to bring it.
If you can overcome your fear of what MIGHT hurt your ego when you make a mistake, but often doesn’t, and if you can trust the magical powers of the Universe to follow Emerson’s philosophy of human life applied to the process of innovation, you can learn what works. In this way, you can learn to succeed faster. In a nutshell, get your ego out of your way.
Learn. Try it. Fix it. Repeat. Take your ego out of the decision process and you can succeed quicker!
Learn to make decisions as soon as you collect JUST ENOUGH information…not too much and not too little. Enough information to separate action with purpose from mere gambling. Once you have sufficient information, a strong vision that you are personally certain will meet the needs of the many, you must act. Like any other muscle that atrophies from lack of use, if you fail to act on your information, your vision, your dreams, you drain the energy from them and you lose the ability in future years to be able to continue to envision and create ideas. You must put information into action, else, it serves little to have gone through the process, pain, expense, time and effort.
Talk is cheap, as they say. Ideas are just as cheap. Taking action, implementing ideas, is the tough part, but made tough only because we fear failure…because we fear bruising our own ego.
Take your ego our of the decision process. Try it. Adjust. Stick with it…be BOLD but don’t simply gamble.
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