By far, the most popular approach people take when they want to pursue a new endeavor is this:
“Let’s SEE if it works”.
That’s a very wobbly foundation to use in life as you’ll soon see.
Ideally, you want to throw yourself into the new endeavor and MAKE IT WORK along the way.
In other words, get in there, get your hands dirty and course correct.
Trust that whatever comes up, you can handle it.
Trust that you can find ways to handle the inevitable obstacles that come up.
Trust that you’ll make it all work out in the end.
Too many people stand on the sidelines and “what if” themselves to death so they never begin.
“What if I try it out and it doesn’t work?”
Let me save you some trouble right there.
YOU’RE GOING TO BLOW IT WHEN YOU FIRST TRY IT.
Imagine you’re at a shooting range for the first time. You’ve never held a rifle before in your entire life. Your aim is to become the most accurate shooter in your county.
You’re there, the rifle is ready, the target is there, but you’re just standing there.
You came with a “let’s see if I’m going to be a good shooter” mentality.
You’re standing there thinking to yourself what happens if I miss the target? Everybody’s going to laugh at me. I’ll confirm the fact I’m a failure. I can’t do anything right. Should I even bother trying?
You find yourself in mental hell.
You do this to yourself for 12 hours.
Then another person comes in with the same intent, to become the most accurate shooter in the county, but they come with a mentality of MAKING IT WORK instead.
So they load up the rifle, take aim and fire.
The recoil stuns them. Their shoulder is a bit hurt and the bullet is WAY OFF target.
They take careful aim again, this time accounting for the strong recoil, and fire again.
Bullet hits the target a bit closer this time.
Now somebody who’s nearby notices this newbie so he/she gives them some pointers.
They take their advice and shoot again.
A bit closer this time. Not bad.
And guess what?
It’s only been 10 minutes so far.
10 minutes of just diving in with the mentality of MAKING IT WORK and they’re already light years ahead of you as you mentally psych yourself out for 12 hours at the shooting range, never pulling the proverbial and literal trigger.
Every time you avoid the journey of MAKING IT WORK, you do yourself a HUGE disservice.
You lose out on SO MUCH.
You lose out on meeting and learning from great people who can help you make it work.
You lose out on developing your own problem solving muscles.
You lose out on gaining confidence in your ability to handle whatever comes up.
Those who have a habit of making things work avoid the trap of psyching themselves out.
They know if they are pursuing something that’s important to them, that they want to master, they’re going to make it work no matter what.
They know it’s not going to be pretty the first time.
They expect to miss the target right off the bat.
But they also know they have the capability to course correct along the way. They’ve picked up strategies along the way when they were making things work in the past they can use today. They can rely on the confidence they built when making things work in the past they can use today.
It’s no biggie for them now.
They’re the ones that waltz into the shooting range, pick up a rifle load it and blast away instead of standing at the range psyching themselves out for 12 hours straight.
In 10 minutes, they’re already ahead of the game and that much closer to becoming the best shooter in their county
If you think about it, it’s a big waste of time to go into a big endeavor to “see” if it works.
However, it’s OK to see if you’d be interested in certain endeavors by trying them out.
For example, you can see if you’d be interested in golf by trying it out. But once you make the decision that you’re going to play golf and get good at it, don’t go with the approach of “lets see if I’ll be good at this game”. Go with the approach of “I’m going to be the best out of my golfing buddies at this game” or if your intent is not just to beat your friends but to go pro, go with the mentality that you’ll make it work and be the best at this game.
It’s a totally different experience when you go in with the mentality of “making it work”.
Automatically, you know you’re in it for the long run so the patience is there. You give yourself permission to fail. You know you’re going to need help. You know you have to invest time and learning into it.
But above all that, you know you’re going to make it work.
It’s just a matter of time and tweaking as you go along.
Don’t miss out on the opportunities in life of building your balance account named “making it work”. You want a lot in there so you can draw upon it when the time comes.
If you never build that account, you’re going to have a very superficial approach to life.
One missed swing and you tell yourself that you’re not a good batter.
One missed pitch and you tell yourself you’re not a good pitcher.
One missed shot and you tell yourself you’re not a good shooter.
Don’t “see” if it’s going to work.
It’s going to work.
You’re not going to waste your time pursuing something that you don’t intend to fully master.
It’s GOING TO WORK.
Why?
Simply because NO MATTER WHAT, YOU’RE GOING TO FREAKING MAKE IT WORK!
