I’ll start by a contradiction: No matter what the title says, just doing things is no guarantee for success. Read Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, Outliers: The Story of Success
Both authors make valid points, but I think Gladwell does us a favor by laying out a more actionable approach on success: There is a great deal of randomness involved (The young Bill Gates just happened to be at a place where he had unlimited access to computers at a time when most didn’t) but there is also a lot we can do to make the most out of the luck that comes our way (Bill spent all his waking hours learning the secrets of those first computers, building the expertise that later led him to start Microsoft and become a millionaire).
This is what leads me back to the title of the post. Even no one can promise that action always leads to success, success requires a fair deal of action. The surest way to nothing is never taking action. And the other one is taking the wrong action.
Based on my own experience, I argue that the second way to fail (or delay your success, as I like to look at it), is just a variation of the first one: You take the wrong actions when you know what the right ones would be — just because doing the thing you know you need to do feels too serious, too difficult, or you’re afraid it will make others laugh at you.
How to Fail
Let’s say you want to create a profitable, useful web site that can make a difference. You have read your blogging advice, and know that the right thing to when starting is to pick a niche that you are passionate about but at the same time covers a need that people are desperate to find.
Some people do the work: they do the research, test their ideas, and then start working on the plan. Others just start writing about the first thing that comes to mind. With this blog, I did the latter. And while it didn’t lead to a complete failure, it made the work harder and I ended up in a very long blogging dip.
But for the sake of the example, let’s say you get lucky (or do the research) and get the first step right. You then carry on with the plan, and after putting in hundreds of hours, you are close to launching your first great product. You have completed most of the work, and all that is left is polishing the product, finding its coolness, and presenting it to the world.
That’s a risky moment: doubt creeps in your mind, you realize that the polishing is a lot of work, and start asking yourself: “What if no one will like this? Should I do something else instead?”
It’s just easier to quit. And that’s what most do. I have quit many times. And I have regrets for each of those times.
The problem is that success can only happen if you fight the doubt and finish the product. You can create a top seller if you never sell anything.
That’s why I’m telling you: Keep doing the things you know you need to do. It’s the difference between the $2,500 (minus expenses) I made last year, and the $200,000 Naomi Dunford did in the same time.
The Challenge
Check out my new project, Text is Art, subscribe to the mailing list on that site, and follow me as I prove this point by putting it to action. And then, when you see me do it, you’ll know that you can too.
If I can make this happen, you have no excuse. You have to do it as well.
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Hey, Jarkko, I’m just finishing this book right now! No kidding, I’ve got like twenty pages to go. It’s had an impact on me as well. I even mentioned the 10,000 hour thing in a post I wrote about ghostwriting earlier in the week. I agree with Gladwell, we are all subject to our own time and place. It turns out though that our own time and place is pretty incredible. I’ve got six months under my belt, about 1,000 hours. I’ve got a long way to go to hit 10,00, but I still believe that this is my year.
I’m on my way to check out Text is Art. I love the name.
Writer Dads last blog post..Running Dialogue
“You take the wrong actions when you know what the right ones would be — just because doing the thing you know you need to do feels too serious, too difficult, or you’re afraid it will make others laugh at you.”
And I would add to that the unconscious fear of being successful and having to live up to it. That’s a strong one too. People that have a desire to be successful but won’t work hard to get it, often have this fear to deal with as well.
And then there’s this common aura around being successful that implies it should be of a great magnitude. But people can get really successful as a parent, or as teacher, or as nurse, without getting the wealth or fame that’s often asociated with success. I haven’t read Gladwell’s book just yet, but I feel that this aspect is often overlooked.
The most important thing I guess, is to decide on what area you want to be successful AND decide how you define success in that area.
Lodewijks last blog post..Doing What You Love To Do Consistently
Hey guys, thanks for the comments!
@Writer Dad: Yeah, that’s huge! I also believe that there are other things we do in our lives that also contribute to the 10,000 hours of blogging experience… Every piece of writing or marketing we have done before counts towards the experience we need to master this medium.
I’m sure this will be your year, and I’ll keep fighting to make it mine too :)
@Lodewijk: That’s an amazing point you make: success isn’t always about money. Quite often, at least online, we talk and think about financial success and forget the other, equally important ways of measuring success.
Maybe it’s because money is easier to quantify…
Another great post! It takes a while to fully grasp this idea but once you do, ..
ah! jarrko… i love a fight.
especially when i have someone nice and shy and soft facing me.
so here is my counter punch:
isn’t ‘failing’ also a success?
so… keep on doing. success or failure, life will happen.
isn’t ‘not doing anything’ also a ‘doing’?
like, i am really doing nothing by writing this response. yet…
why do i need success? if i can live without it?
:)
sorry… was picking a fight.
but really, i wonder, when did we humans become so success-hungry?
@biren, no need to call it a fight :) I call this discussion – and you make a good point.
I have been thinking about success and failure a lot, and one of the ideas I’ve had recently is that maybe failing is just delayed success. You fail IN something (like a business idea) but it doesn’t mean you are a failure. If you try again and don’t give up, you will succeed at some point, in something :)
Then again, why do you need success. I think everyone does need success to be happy. But here’s the catch: there is no absolute definition of success. Everyone defines their own success themselves (or should define). Therefore, success doesn’t need to involve money or business, or even your career.
You are perfectly successful when you are living the kind of life you want to be living.