In my training seminars I do a small demonstration that people remember for years. I ask for a volunteer from the audience to stand at the far side of the room. The volunteer represents the goal I want to reach. My task is to walk across the room to him, blindfolded.
I give the volunteer one job. He is a feedback machine. Every time I take a step directly towards him, he says "On Course". The moment I drift even slightly to either side, he says "Off Course".
Then I start walking, slowly. A few steps, "On Course". A few more, I veer off and he says "Off Course", and I correct myself. Then I drift again and correct again. After a lot of zigzagging, I reach him.
Then I ask the audience a question. Which did the volunteer say more often, "On Course" or "Off Course"? The answer is always "Off Course". I was off course more than I was on course, and I still got there.
What this teaches
I got there because I kept taking action and kept adjusting to the feedback. I did not stand at the starting line waiting for a perfect straight path. I did not sit down because I had made a mistake. I was never offended by the words "Off Course". They were not an insult. They were information.
The same is true in life, as I say in the chapter. All we have to do is start taking action and then respond to the feedback. If we do that diligently enough and for long enough, we reach our goals.
Think how many of us do the opposite. We do not start, because we are afraid of hearing "Off Course". Or we start, hear it twice, and decide the destination is not for us.
The chapter quotes Buckminster Fuller, who said human beings were given a left foot and a right foot to make a mistake, first to the left, then to the right, left again, and repeat. That is what walking is.
Some will, some won't, so what
There is a second idea in this chapter that goes well with the walking demonstration. I call it SWSWSWSW. It stands for "Some will, some won't, so what, someone's waiting."
When you ask anyone for anything, a job, an order, a hand in help, some people will say yes and some will say no. So what? Somewhere out there someone is waiting for you and your ideas. It is a numbers game. You keep asking until you get a yes. My friend Balamurali is fond of saying, "What you want wants you." You only need to hang in there long enough to find it.
The book also quotes the author Barbara Kingsolver on a manuscript that comes back from an editor. Do not consider it rejected, she says. Consider that you addressed it to the editor who can appreciate your work, and it has simply come back stamped "not at this address". Just keep looking for the right address.
Look at the examples the book gives of famous failures.
- Colonel Sanders took his recipe to more than a thousand restaurants before he found a buyer. It is now known as KFC.
- John Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill, was rejected by sixteen agents and a dozen publishing houses.
- Fred Astaire's first screen test report said he could not act and could dance a little. He kept the memo over the fireplace in his house.
Each of them heard "Off Course" and "not at this address" many times. They kept on walking.
Your exercise this week
- Choose one goal that you have been postponing. Make it small enough to attempt in a week, such as speaking at a meeting, sending your resume to ten companies, or showing your work to one person who knows the field.
- Take the first step today. Do not wait to feel ready.
- Find your "volunteer". It can be a teacher, a friend or a senior who will tell you honestly when you are off course. Ask for their feedback once a week.
- After each piece of feedback, change just one thing. Then walk again.
- If you are asking people for something, keep a count of the noes. Treat each no as a step closer to the someone who is waiting.
Remember, a blindfolded man with a friendly voice calling "Off Course" is not in trouble. He is on his way. You only get into real trouble when you stop walking.
This is one chapter from my book Simply the Best.
