How many love songs have you heard on Magic FM (don’t deny it – you know you listen) that sing about people never loving because they’re afraid of having their hearts broken?
I know it’s a stuffy old cliché, but there’s truth in it.
After all, as I’ve said before, success usually comes out of failure. If you’re afraid to fail, you limit your chances of ever winning.
I don’t think that enough people understand that, as human beings we have to make mistakes in order to learn.
Marshall McLuhan is the Canadian media guru (I've mentioned him before) who first coined the phrase ‘less is more’.
He once stated that we don't really understand through learning, we understand through experience.
This obviously has specific resonance to anyone who works in experiential marketing, since it validates our whole methodology, but it also has a wider application to anyone who aims to achieve something.
Take juggling for instance. It’s an accepted fact that you cannot learn to juggle without dropping a few balls. You have to learn through the mistakes you make, and apply the knowledge you acquire next time round.
Unfortunately, in times of recession, people become more terrified than ever of making a mistake.
I say, this is the best time to start.
Showing posts with label Learning.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Learning.. Show all posts
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
From Good...To Great...To WoW!
Let’s face it; we all want to be the best we can be.
But to achieve this, we need to start out totally unaware of just how good we already are.
That’s either brilliant or I’m an idiot.... yes OK but read on anyway.
It’s simple really.
If you set out on a job, a project, or assignment thinking about difficulties, obstacles and the limits of your capability, you’re never going to go any further.
To take that next step, to get to the top of your particular tree, if your first thought is “We’ve never done that before,” your second thought should always be “So let’s go for it.”
All those things that you think you can’t do, they’re the things you should be doing.
Remember Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb.
According to legend, it took 1,000 attempts to perfect his invention, but he never saw these as failures.
In his words: “I never failed, I just discovered 1,000 ways not to make a light bulb.”
As Thomas himself said "Have faith go forward"
But to achieve this, we need to start out totally unaware of just how good we already are.
That’s either brilliant or I’m an idiot.... yes OK but read on anyway.
It’s simple really.
If you set out on a job, a project, or assignment thinking about difficulties, obstacles and the limits of your capability, you’re never going to go any further.
To take that next step, to get to the top of your particular tree, if your first thought is “We’ve never done that before,” your second thought should always be “So let’s go for it.”
All those things that you think you can’t do, they’re the things you should be doing.
Remember Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb.
According to legend, it took 1,000 attempts to perfect his invention, but he never saw these as failures.
In his words: “I never failed, I just discovered 1,000 ways not to make a light bulb.”
As Thomas himself said "Have faith go forward"
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