What happens if you fail? (Photo: Maurizio Polese)
Asking the following question to a sports star or movie star, they usually answer in the same way.
“What do you have to say to young people who want to be like you?”
They usually answer something similar to these words: “Well, I would say to definitely go to college and get an education. Just in case something doesn’t work out, you have a back-up plan.”
The funny thing about this, a lot of these people skipped over education or a “back-up plan” and when recruited into whatever role or position on a team, they do it greatly (because of this and skill). If these people spent time going for a back-up plan, they would lose this opportunity of a lifetime. Having the back-up plan might be setting up the person for inevitable failure because of less focus on the main goal.
I’m not saying to quit school or not go to school at all. Far from it. What these successful sports stars or movie stars don’t say is to know what you want. Going to school without a purpose is like building a house without an architects plans. The house will get completed, but it definitely will not be very good at all.
Remember this phrase, it WILL change your life.
“The world has the habit of making room for the man whose actions show that he knows where he is going.”
- Napoleon Hill
This phrase works great for me. When talking to people, people understand through my actions that I know where I am going, and so many doors open for me. The same will happen for you if you believe and adopt this mind set.
Believing is seeing. I will write more about believing is seeing in a later post.
Side note, There is one affiliate link below, feel free to click them or not, it is fine either way.
Burning my Bridges
I burned my boats and bridges for success. In “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, one technique for success in war which can be applied today is burning boats or bridges for escape.
The tactic is basically this, taking an army across a river. Unloading all soldiers and supplies on the other side of the river. Burning all their boats, the only routes of escape.
Left with two choices when facing the enemy army, to win or to die, people will do super human feats to survive.
I chose to put myself in a corner on purpose, cut off my dependence on my salary and depend on my own work. This is a valuable technique a lot of people will be able to benefit from because just like burning boats or bridges for escape, we must become creative to survive or else.
Before burning our boats, we should ask ourselves, what is the worse thing which can happen? Think long and hard for yourself too, what is the worse thing which can happen if I quit my job today? Will I be able to afford my current lifestyle? A temporary no. Expenses need to be reduced anyway for a vagabond lifestyle.
In reality, there are many things which can go wrong or be the “worse things” which could happen. Most of these bad things just don’t happen, and when we approach something with the attitude where we need to succeed or else, we are more likely to succeed.
Diversify Income
Back-up plans are silly. Lets define what we mean by back-up plan. To me, it is something to fall upon if what I’m doing fails. Lets say my business fails. What is my back-up plan? In theory I can go out and get another job for as much pay as I left, or more. I actually don’t pick this option, it is not a choice for me.
It doesn’t mean we should just let our business fail. It is better to set ourselves up for inevitable success. I’ll write more about inevitable success in a later post.
First off, its a mistake if I depend on one business for all my income. It is the same as being an employee, except business owners have more than one customer compared to the employee (the employer is the customer to the employee). Business owners have all their customers. If one person stops buying, it usually won’t affect others, and new customers can be acquired through marketing and various other means. Diversify your income.
It is really difficult to fail in a business. If you make it difficult to fail. Businesses fail daily. Would your business fail if you only had expenses for every sale you made? Probably not. It is possible.
Would your marketing fail if you only paid a commission for after the product is shipped? Probably not.
If you knew you had a back-up plan in case your business failed, might you not give it your all to make sure your business succeeded? Probably not give it all your effort because you didn’t burn your boats in your own mind.
I’m not saying a back-up plan is a bad idea. Well maybe I am. I’m telling you to diversify your income so even if something fails you have all these other revenue making businesses or ideas. Think about sport stars. Lets talk about Tiger Woods.
Tiger Woods definitely has a lot of women, though that is not the concern. Does he make most of his money from playing golf? Definitely not. He makes most of his money from advertising other peoples products.
The same goes for Michael Jordan today. Michael Jordan is still making money from the products he endorses (like those shoes) while not playing basketball professionally. He has tried other sports, and I’m sure he makes money from speaking or other joint ventures.
It is crazy to put all your eggs in one basket and depend on one customer for all your income.
If you decide to pursue something, your dream or desires, just remember to give it all you got. It is the ONLY way to never fail.
Do you believe this or are you setting yourself up for failure?
In my next post, I will be interviewing Karol from Ridiculously Extraordinary. See you then!
Posted on January 5th 2010.
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My class starts tomorrow and I met more people lately.What I want to share is that in most occasions language is a tool for listeners to get what the speakers want them to get but not the truth or the real exsits around us.I know it seems very basic common sense. But somehow i am just more inclined to think simple..
Good start bobby.I am on your side.Seeing is not believing somehow.You know it ,the real things can only be perceived by our heart…
see ya
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” A quote from the book The Little Prince. Another great saying is “Words are the source of misunderstanding.” Enjoy your class and thanks for stopping by. And you are right about language.
I failed lot of time in my previous career planning. Life is looking so tougher now days. I just feeling a quit alone. But standing in one place is not the game of life ,so I started again to fail again. started with negative,so If I get at least 1% of success then I will party harder to plan my next 2% of success. I will continue it till I get my 100%. when I will reach my 100%, then I will write an article on what to do when you get fail.
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