Herman School of Business
The Courage to be Wrong...
Anyone can be strong when they know they will win. Taking a chance that could show yourself to be wrong takes courage.
What if you go for that job interview and get turned down? Ouch to your ego. What if you try out for the team and get cut. Ouch again. Or, how about asking that good looking woman out for a date…and she says no? When kids ask permission to try something that seems outrageous to you as a parent…remember that it doesn’t seem that way to your child. Little kids still have the courage to be wrong. And do you know why they still have the courage to be wrong?
Because, they haven’t experienced much pain yet.
Sure, getting burned when you touch the stove hurts. But usually even if a kid does something and it fails…he gets attention for trying. He even finds a unique response to his foibles that surprises him or her…they get laughs. Big huge belly laughs, and they like that. But they seldom get their spirit crushed…in fact, kids are shocked when what they try doesn’t work…you see, even at an early age we are wired to try new things because we expect to accomplish them.
Only as we grow up and feel the sting of defeat do we start to shy away from any effort that could bring on that pain. Confidence is something that slithers away over time and too many people let it slip so far away they lose the courage to try even if it means being wrong.
Lose at a business venture early in life and it hurts too much to try again. Why? Because we lack the courage to lose again. So people sit still, and stay in the same rut, rather than try to make something happen. To tell you the truth, it even happens to people who have been successful who stop going to new places and new challenges so they don’t face the possibility of losing or being wrong.
But, if you reach back deep inside of yourself…and block out the losses and remember some of your early days when you were a fearless kid…and you close your eyes and hear the laughter of the adults even when what you tried failed…then you just might find the courage to be wrong. Even if what you try flops…so what…because you might not lose…you might actually win and accomplish your goal. And you will thank yourself a million times over for having the courage to try…even if you might be wrong.
- Posted: 10 March 2008
- Comments: 0
- Category: Business success
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