It's the Iteration, stupid!

I really enjoyed watching Eric Ries's presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo. His basic message is: make as many mistakes as you want, as long as you learn from them and don't wait too long until you correct them. He is talking about entrepreneurship, but that doesn't mean that the underlying principle is worthless for the average person. I say that we are all entrepreneurs in our own fields and therefore, his message is for everyone. It is not just start-ups that are facing extreme uncertainty. We are all coping with those kinds of situations on an everyday basis. Our health as well as personal and professional success are often dependent on variables that we cannot influence. But instead of us having sleepless nights over if we are going to get a job or end up on the street, Ries beautifully outlines how we can approach challenges that we face.

My last post was about putting an act out there to create a habit. And it is true that acting is more difficult than reacting, to have faith is more demanding than to have fear and to perceive one's life as an experiment seems straight out crazy. But here is why it's good. 

Firstly, it builds courage, because that is what it takes to start something. In a scientific experiment, one starts with a hypothesis and observes in lab if the assumptions hold or not. If not, the underlying paradigms have to be adjusted and new assumptions will have to be made. Through that kind of iteration cycle, we get a clearer idea about what really works and what does not. In the end, the understanding we have of the world is more refined and more precise than before. And although just doing things over and over again sounds easy in theory - it is at least twice as hard in practice. 

Because iteration always means failing. It always entails setbacks, disappointments and defeats. The question is and always will be: How strongly do you believe that one day you will achieve your goal and overcome the obstacles life has so meticulously put in your way? The whole process is very demanding as you must be willing to put an imperfect thing out there and see what the world does with it. 

In order to give an effective presentation, you will have to rehearse the things you say. The first time you do that, it will not be a pleasant experience. Stumbling upon your words, forgetting key information and being embarrassed because your friends/family are watching have never been very conducive to feeling like Super(wo-)man. But instead of trying to justify why your performance sucked, rather practice it a second time. Then a third time. Then try to say it without a cheat sheet in your hand. Then time yourself. And while you are doing this, think about your task as an experiment. Just observe - do not judge. Think of what your presentation can be if you have practiced enough. How much more effectively you can convey information. This is how one should think about failing. 

And at the end of the day, we have learned an important lesson. That iteration always means failing. And at the same time, if practiced with rigor - it will always mean improving.

Habits...

Sow an act, and you reap a habit.
Sow a habit and you reap a character.
Sow a character and you reap a destiny.

The man who said that was a pretty smart guy, because he knew the power of a habit. But let's start with the act. 
Putting an act out there is often equivalent to "starting something". If you have not done something before, it is very hard to start. As we are in the middle of the turkey and chocolate loaded holiday season, we all know how hard it will be to start working out again after having gained a few pounds. It just doesn't feel right to start going (or wobbling...) to the gym again, although we really want to. 
But it is hard. It is hard because we doubt that making an effort is even worth it anymore. We are discouraged by the fact that we were in much better shape a couple of weeks ago. So we are paralized because we have lost faith in what our actions can do. So restoring our faith is the first step in order to create that "act" that makes you harvest a destiny in the long run. 

How can we accomplish that?

Try the following, staying in the sports after holiday example: Try to picture how you would feel if you went to the gym tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and again in three days. Three times in a row. How would you feel? Probably a little less wobbly. If you repeated the same thing the week after that, your perception of yourself will be even more positive. The whole point is that by only making an effort, our confidence rises significantly. Making an effort does not necessarily mean succeeding. But even failing in getting in shape in one day does not seem too bad anymore. Because we know that we are on track to get there. And this is how I interpret the quote from the beginning: It is about harvesting more than you have sown. You are not just doing something valuable for yourself - you start gaining confidence by doing it as a free extra!

And after that it gets even better: if you grow a habit of the acts that you have sown, formerly hard and scary things suddenly become natural and empowering. I asked a good friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, how he manages to literally be in the gym every evening to practice martial arts. He told me that for him, it was as natural as brushing your teeth in the evening - but more enjoyable. I think that this is a good place to be. If we can manage to practice something difficult so often that it becomes a part of yourself. Harvesting a character is then only a matter of time. Although I don't think that going to the gym makes us better people, the important idea is that we can indeed change what we do on a regular basis, thus changing what defines us. 

That is why I find phrases like:  "I just cannot do that!" highly questionable in theory, because I assume the person who says this has not really tried. In practice I think that I have no talent for playing instruments, without ever really having tried. So there is much of the above to implement.

Sundays...

It is the ultimate challenge: Getting up from brunch on a Sunday to start your work. We have all been there. Hour after hour passes and there is always that one more thing that seems more important than starting the stuff you actually have to do. Cleaning your room, doing the dishes or writing blog posts is so much more exciting in that very moment.
But think of it this way: We only have so many hours to spend. The supreme goal can only be to be happy as many of those hours as somehow possible. That entails doing the things that make you happy. As we have to finish the work before doing the fun stuff, we want to get started as soon as possible. Now picture the moment when you are done with the (really crucial) tasks that you want to accomplish today. No, really...picture it in all its facets! What a relief right? Finally having the possibility to work on the projects we consider our hobbies without a bad conscience. Music, friends, planning our christmas holiday - whatever it is!
So get down to work and work your ass off. Really concentrate on the things you do as long as you haven't finished them yet. No facebook, no youtube, no nothing. Just you and that report/math exercise/you-name-it. That will save you a lot of your precious time. Time you can reinvest in other things. Things that make you grow.

This blog is dedicated to growth. Addressing issues like self-motivation, finding a true passion or losing fear in the face of personal change is what I want to accomplish here. Most of us know that there is a whole lot of potential lying within us. The main challenge we face is harnessing this potential and using it in order to make the world a better place.
It will not be easy nor will it be accomplished in one day. But by sharing lessons I learned concerning questions we all face, I try to contribute something to other people's solutions.