Critical Chance

Tag: setback

  • Which game are you playing?

    “Good things do not return in a one-for-one manner.
    Individual actions are not directly rewarded.
    It is on average that doing good improves the quality of life
    for you and the people around you.”

    -Scott Adams, God Debris

    1 Action = 1 Outcome

    Our brains are wired to understand our choices and their relationship to the world as one-for-one.

    If you tie your shoes, then you won’t trip. That’s a single action, which returns a single outcome. It doesn’t take long for you to recognize the relationship between these two actions, and for you to adopt the new behavior into your life.

    This mental model is helpful, and it has allowed humans to survive.

    When Caveman Carl slept in a cave, he decreased his likelihood of being eaten by Tigers. The benefit of improved safety was immediately realized and he moved into his new home the next day. Carl’s Cave-Estate was passed down to future generations, and his family lived on.

    One single action, led to one positive outcome.

    Many Actions = 1 (Better) Outcome

    However the greatest ROI comes from many-for-one outcomes; areas where it takes a great deal of tries, repeating the same behavior, without experiencing any benefits in the short-term.

    Take exercising. If you go to the gym only twice, that will not cut it. There’s a high probability that your body will ache and you will not notice any difference in your physical appearance.

    However, if you make exercise a daily habit, after 2 months you will lose weight, have more energy, and notice physically differences.

    Many-for-one outcomes take a long time to provide a return, but when the results finally appear, the payoff is exponentially larger.

    The games we play

    Taking longer than expected?

    Facing a small setback?

    Don’t get discouraged, there’s a good chance you’re just playing a many-for-one game. Remember that you’re in the business of maximizing your total potential, which is the greatest game you can play. These wins come over long periods of high volume effort; that’s unavoidable.

    To grow stronger, make exercise a ritual.
    To sell a company, launch as many as you can.
    To build a reputation, serve others first.

    Be patient.

    Good outcomes require great effort.

  • Do you need this to succeed?

    In 1987, Paulo Coelho had something special to share; he had completed a story which followed a boy searching for his destiny.

    After pitching the book to various publishing houses, it was accepted and printed to sell that same year.

    Over the next 6 months, he would go on to sell……. 2 books.

    The publishing company revoked the rights, and the books were removed from their untouched shelves.

    But Coelho was convinced it was a great book, “It was written from my soul,” he said. So, instead of giving up, he started knocking on doors.

    A year later, he was given a break; a new publisher decided to give Paulo a second chance and the book was published again. Slowly, through word of mouth, it finally began selling; first one-thousand, then three-thousand, then ten-thousand book by book.

    Today, The Alchemist has sold more than 115 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 71 languages.

    Paulo Coelho later said, “I’ve been rejected many times (from publishers to girlfriends). This lead me to the best publishers in the world, and to the perfect wife.”

    We tend to focus on the strengths of those who succeed, but what about their setbacks?

    • A young entrepreneur has a coding gift, but what about the times investors laughed at their pitch?
    • An olympic athlete has the perfect body-type, but what about the countless personal injuries they trained through?

    Perhaps, it’s really the obstacles that are the most critical component to our success.

    Not one, not two, but many, many obstacles.

    The setbacks we encounter give us the opportunity for our true selves to develop. When we tough it out, we end up learning new lessons, which are applied in the final act of our stories.

    There’s a tremendous power to feeling something deep within your soul. It’s only when we keep moving forward, over and over again, that we achieve our full destiny.

    What’s your setback?

    Believe in yourself – get out there and start knocking on doors.

    You’re just one break away from becoming a worldwide hit.

  • Setbacks by the thousand

    Edison had 1,000 documented failed designs of the light bulb.

    It took the Wright brothers 1,000 trials to increase their distance traveled by a mere 200 feet.

    Colonel Sanders’ famous secret chicken recipe was rejected over 1,000 times before KFC accepted it.

    It’s easy to be discouraged by failure. Brick walls are being built around us everyday. At first glance they may seem like they are keeping us out, but if you stick around long enough, you’ll find something different.

    Brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

    Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper company because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

    When Walt Disney finally made it, he famously said,

    “If you can dream it, you can do it.”

    … BAM take that brick wall.