Mistakes and failures have a negative connotation. They imply weakness, lack of skill, or lack of intelligence. It’s easy to look back and dissect our mistakes. Instead of using our mistakes as an opportunity to grow, learn and understand, we use them as a whipping stick to beat ourselves with.
Farnam Street shared a “Tiny Thought” in their blog this week that nailed this concept:
“People think good decision-making is about being right all the time. It’s not. It’s about lowering the cost of being wrong and changing your mind. When the cost of mistakes is high, we’re paralyzed with fear. When the cost of mistakes is low, we can move fast and adapt. Make mistakes cheap, not rare.”
We should all be cost-based when we look at opportunities. What’s the risk? What’s the benefit? This should be our primary driver for trying new things.
The problem is that most people are more concerned about the optics than anything else. What will the neighbors think? How will it look if this doesn’t work? How am I going to explain this? I would venture to guess many people care more about how they appear than about how profitable they are!
To make progress, we have to make mistakes! We don’t learn anything by playing it safe. We have to learn how to limit our risk by reducing the cost of our mistakes. Take smaller steps, try new things on a smaller scale, do the research, pencil it out and know the risks. A little bit of due diligence goes a long way. Then, don’t be afraid to pull the trigger!
If something doesn’t work out, we still learned something. Use that knowledge to reassess and move forward. The whole purpose of trying new things is to make improvements and gain knowledge. Either we win or we learn. The only losers are those who don’t try.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.” ~ Geena Davis