Here’s the question that keeps many of us stuck:
“What if I get it wrong?”
What if I weigh the pros and cons and wrestle with all the competing opinions and options, only to settle on a path that leads in the wrong direction?
If you listen closely, you’ll hear the whimpering strains of the emotion beneath: fear.
Fear is an evolutionary gift designed to protect us. But now that we’re out of the caves and living in a relatively safe world, it often just keeps us stuck, trapped in a cage of indecision we call “caution.”
Do yourself a favor. Make a list of people you admire—historical figures, innovators, business leaders, and social justice champions. Read their biographies. Listen to their interviews. Follow the trajectory of their lives, and you will find a trail littered with false starts, embarrassing mistakes, painful detours, and reinventions.
What made them successful wasn’t a superhuman ability to get it right the first time; it was their willingness to fail forward, to learn from their missteps, recalibrate, and keep going.
To paraphrase Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer, instead of worrying about getting it wrong, trust in your ability to make it right.
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