Just dive in: your path to success

Edition #58

There are two things that need your attention on the journey to achieve your goals:

1️⃣ Your habits

2️⃣ Your attitude

I have talked a lot about the habit part in the previous editions of this newsletter. The habit aspect is how to tackle the friction that comes when we choose to make changes in our lives to achieve a goal. We break down a goal into doable habits and try to stay consistent with them on a daily basis.

As James Clear rightly puts in his book ‘Atomic Habits’:
"1% better every day is 38 times better at the end of the year.”

Today, we look into the attitude aspect by tackling two thoughts that stop us from achieving our goals:

a. The 'I just can't do it' attitude

b. The fear of failure

If these thoughts trouble you I have good news. You can kill both these birds with one stone: just dive in. Let me elaborate through some examples.

The 'I just can't do it' attitude:

"I am not gifted with the skills required to play this."

I used to think this when I first laid my hands on a ukulele. I had never learned an instrument in my life before. I used to think that people are gifted with musical skills, and I just can't do it. But one day, I had enough of that thinking; it was time to dive in. I took the plunge, and I feel so glad that I didn't let my negative thoughts dominate my actions. My ukulele has helped me make someone special, feel special.

Imagine what would have happened if 52 year old Ray Kroc would have thought, ‘I just can’t build a business at this age.’ There would have been no McDonald's!

So, just dive in.

The fear of failure:

When there are other people watching you pursue your goals, the fear of failure sinks in. When I got my hands on a skateboard, deep inside, I feared what if people saw me fall? They would laugh at me.

Your goals might be visible for others to judge as well. Maybe you are a photographer and think that your work is not good enough, or you might be a writer worried about what people will think when they see your work, they will laugh, and you will ultimately fail. Hear me out, it is perfectly fine to have the fear of failure. Question here is what can one do about it?

You’ll fail, so what? If it’s worth it, just dive in.

That's what I did with my skateboard. I watched some beginner videos on YouTube, took my skateboard, and just got started. Fast forward a few months after that, I was organizing a skateboarding workshop in my college (a first there) with three of my friends, with the tag line:

“Afraid of falling? Well, it’s worth a fall!”

We took the first 50 people who signed up and helped them get on board with skateboards. Though my friends and I graduated in 2022, the skateboarding culture is still thriving in the campus.

The attitude aspect is just in our minds, getting the better of us. If we just dive in, we will be fine and on our way to achieving our goals.

Quote of the week

Nike co-founder Phil Knight on fear of failure, from his book, ‘Shoe Dog’:

Fear of failure, I thought, will never be our downfall as a company. Not that any of us thought we wouldn't fail; in fact we had every expectation that we would. But when we did fail, we had faith that we'd do it fast, learn from it, and be better for it.

Until next week, ✌

Jainuine