How We Limit Our Chances For Success, And How We Can Stop

Posted: 16 May 2013 05:30 AM PDT

Sometimes when we don’t succeed it’s because we prevented our success in advance. We convince ourselves that the things we might try will fail before we ever try them. We limit our chance of succeeding due to preconceived ideas that something won’t work.

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Limiting yourself is a topic I’ve written about before. I was recently reminded of it after a client let me know he was going to close one of his businesses. It’s not his main business, but one related to it and one that served the same market. We both thought it had potential and could also bring more customers into the main business. Unfortunately it didn’t happen.

Remove Can’t from Your Vocabulary

Nothing is impossible. Those things that seem impossible are simply things we haven’t yet figured out how to make possible.

You might suggest time travel or teleportation or many other things that come from the world of science fiction are impossible and they certainly seem to be given our current understanding of the universe. I don’t believe any are impossible. We can’t envision the possibility given the context of the knowledge we have, but that doesn’t mean there is no possibility.

Keep in mind that not all that long ago flying was considered impossible and yet at this very moment the skies are filled with airplanes carrying passengers from one destination to another. It’s hardly the only thing once thought impossible.

Computers
The telephone
The light bulb
Circumnavigating the globe
Breaking the sound barrier
Going to the moon? Mars?

We have reached the limits of what is possible with computers.
—John Von Neumann (1949)

Nearly every important invention or accomplishment was thought impossible before it became possible. Those people who made the impossible, possible had one thing in common, which was believing it was possible.

There’s a famous quote attributed to Henry Ford. I’ve seen it written a number of ways, though I’m sure you’ll recognize it.

Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.
—Henry Ford

When you decide in advance something isn’t going to work, you limit any chance it had of working. Believing something will work isn’t a guarantee it will, but it gives you a chance of making it work.

Break Out of Comfort Zones

Recently I talked about shaking things up in my routine and breaking out of my comfort zone. Here’s another quote I’m sure you’re familiar with.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
—Albert Einstein

I’m not sure that’s really what it means to be insane, but I’m pretty sure if you continue to do the same things in the same way over and over you aren’t likely to get different results.

If you’ve been happy with the results you’re getting, then by all means continue to do what you’re doing. If, however, the results aren’t quite what you’d hoped for, then change is in order.

Comfort zones have a way of limiting us in that they don’t allow us to get different results. They keep us where we are. They usually won’t have us regress, but they tend to limit how we can grow.

Again if you’re satisfied with where you are, then there’s no reason to change, but I’d suggest most of us would like to be more than we are now. Being satisfied is an enemy of progress.

Be Willing to Risk for Reward

It can be scary to take a risk. There’s a potential for loss and most of us prefer not to lose what we have. Limiting risk, limits loss. It also limits gain. Here’s one last quote that I don’t think is attributed to anyone, because it’s so common.

The greater the risk, the greater the reward

I’m not sure that’s 100% accurate as I’ve seen people take some pretty stupid risks where it was hard to see any potential reward, however, I feel confident saying that great rewards usually require great risks.

You have to be willing to take a chance. If you read about some of the more successful people on the planet, you’ll find many of them took chances and failed many times along the way. Successful people tend toward being risk takers.

I’m always struck by some people who join my business forum seeking advice on a business idea. They won’t share the idea out of fear someone will steal it. They spend most of their time and energy trying to protect an idea from being stolen and in the process spend no time or energy developing the idea into something that can be successful.

It’s true if the idea is out there, the possibility exists someone else will see it and work on it and be successful with it. It’s a chance you take, but one you inevitably have to take. In order to start your business you have to release your idea and once it’s out there anyone can copy it.

Most people won’t take an idea until after you’ve proved it can be successful and if you’ve managed to prove that, you shouldn’t have to worry about competition. You’re already ahead of them.

What Could Have Been

Coming back to my client, I can’t help but wonder what could have been. Perhaps he’s right and there isn’t any way to save this business. He certainly knows the business better than I do.

Still I keep thinking back to many suggestions I offered over the years and the many times my suggestions were returned with a “that won’t work, because…”

This particular client has some very good ideas and is willing to try things to improve his business. He also has a way of making up his mind in advance of any information and once made up, little can change his mind.

I won’t go into the specifics of why he thinks this business can’t go forward or any of the things I thought he could have tried over the years. He knows his business better than I ever could. Maybe my suggestions wouldn’t have made a difference. Perhaps this was a case of not having the means to realistically compete.

And yet I can’t help but wonder what might have been and whether or not self imposed limitations are ultimately the reason the business is closing its doors.

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