Sheer Absurdity

One of our most fascinating discoveries about successful people is that sometimes the only point of differentiation between them and others is that the succeeders stopped deliberating and took action in the pursuit of something about which they felt strongly.

In other words, the idea that success stories are about special individuals - really smart or talented or good-looking or even lucky people - is not supported by fact. Oftentimes the success story is just a person who said to himself/herself:

"I am tired of thinking about it, I am going to JUST DO IT."

I am not suggesting impulsive conduct. Deliberation and research are, of course, critical. But, my observation is that many more people analyze and deliberate to excess - while opportunity slips by - than act impulsively.

One of my favorite stories is about Richard Branson, the billionaire English entrepreneur who created the Virgin brand of music and airlines, etc. By the way, any guesses why the name "Virgin?" Yes, of course, he said that since he knew so little about business when he started out, no other name seemed appropriate.

Branson was a very bad student. He was dyslexic which as he described, was not considered a problem in the sixties unless, of course, you were dyslexic. His grades were poor, his teachers were very concerned. Not exactly the boy the odds makers would predict to be England's most famous entrepreneur.

But Branson had a "problem" other than dyslexia. He was too naïve to know that he did not have a chance to be successful. So, he decided to start a magazine (which led to the music business).

"My schoolwork was going from bad to worse ... had I been five or six years older, the sheer
absurdity of trying to sell advertising to major companies in a magazine that did not yet exist and that was edited by two fifteen-year-old schoolboys, would have prevented me from picking up the phone at all. But I was too young to contemplate failure."

Because Branson was too young to know better, he went ahead with his magazine. In other words, he just did it.

"Just Do It" is, of course, the famous Nike logo. The founder of Nike, another billionaire entrepreneur, Phil Knight was also a bit naïve when he quit his job as an accountant and pursued the absurd idea of selling running shoes out of the trunk of his car.

"Many a false step is taken by just standing still." ANONYMOUS

Jim Randel is the author of The Skinny on Willpower as well as of the soon-to-be released The Skinny on Success: Why Not You?