TLDR:
- Making mistakes is part and parcel of becoming a successful entrepreneur. It is the most humane thing to do in the world.
- It’s not always about getting one percent closer each day, but rather one step closer. The seeds meant to become ripe and ready for harvest will be when they’re meant to be. All you have to do is make sure you’re putting the hard yards in daily to see the light of that day.
- Even if you have a sense of urgency, the principle still applies, for as Claude Monet says, “art takes time.”
Recognizing the most important piece of the entrepreneurial puzzle
Whether or not you want to admit it, making mistakes is part and parcel of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Rather than running away from it, it should be embraced.
If you don’t allow yourself room to grow by allowing what is the most humane thing to do in the world, then how can you expect your end product or service to be as good as you’ve envisioned it to be?
Be it trying to create a vastly successful local business or a global company with branches across the world, making mistakes and working until your fingers bleed without much of a push is a part of the process. Just ask Jeff Bezos.
However, I myself didn’t always think this way. When the university chapter of my life began, I had been working on some projects on the side that I was deeply passionate about, with a desire to pursue them full-time post-graduation. In my mind, I believed that if I wanted to make this reality, every initiative I took not only had to take me one step closer but must be a complete success, achieving the objective I set.
However, it all fell flat on my face every time.
It wasn’t because it was an utter failure, but because the objectives I set were too farfetched, and I was trying to smash the accelerator too hard in an attempt to speed run through the process within 4 years.
Though I’ve always been a believer in taking it one day at a time, I realized that how I framed my approach towards this regard was very unfeasible.
I was of the notion that rather than being one step closer, I had to be one percent closer every day to achieve my goal, with anything short of that being a failure, for if I were to graduate without achieving what it is I really want to do, all of the work would’ve been for nothing.
In spite of my sense of urgency, by talking to close people in my circle, I became cognizant of the fact that I had to plant the seeds and let them sprout on their own naturally. Some of them would go on to not grow at all or not as much, while the remaining would eventually become ripe, ready for harvest.
Essentially, irrespective of whether or not you’ve set a time limit for yourself to achieve what it is you want to, what’s more important is putting the hard yards in on a daily basis.
Some days will be quiet, while others will be as though you’re on top of the world, and that is when you’re truly getting closer to your goal, rather than trying to circumvent the process through accelerants, as Steve Harvey doesn’t say that failure is a wonderful teacher for no reason.
But obviously, during those quiet days, thoughts will creep into your mind where you’re questioning yourself and whether or not you really have the ability to attain what you want to firmly grasp with both hands (for I have firsthand experience in such relapses even after the change in mindset).
For me personally, to continue going, what it comes down to is merely taking a deep breath and reminding myself that if I erred more than usual today, it’s all a part of the process and that it’s all about taking it one day at a time, for there’s always the next day, when it’s time to rise and shine just like the sun has every day for centuries.
And by recognizing the beauty of embracing mistakes, you’re now one step closer in achieving whatever freedom you sought out for.