We deal with uncertainty, randomness, and luck every day.
Every project we undertake is, by its nature, an uncertain endeavor (because it hasn't been done before – if it had, it would be certain, and there’d be nothing to start).
Uncertainty means we can fail.
But it also means we can succeed – that there is the potential for success infused in every endeavor, right from the start.
If you’re looking to instigate anything, you’re dealing with uncertainty, and therefore with the possibility of failure or success.
If this is the case, what favors one course of action over another? Why do some projects fail and others succeed?
Well, first, they may just be lucky.
There is a very real possibility that good luck or favorable, random chance resulted in the success of an initiative that should have failed, and that bad luck or unfavorable, random chance destroyed a project that deserved success.
And if this is the case, it might follow that everything is random, so better to either never start anything, or start random things often (more dice rolls, better chance of random success).
But this isn't the full story, and this is precisely the type of attitude that leads to failed attempts at instigating.
When we deal with the uncertainty of a new project, yes, we do deal with luck and random chance.
But we can also, through the structure and direction of our work, open ourselves up to favorable, random chance, and avoid unfavorable, random chance.
In a matter of speaking, we can make ourselves lucky.
More importantly, we can instigate projects in a scientific manner that allows for sustainable, long term gains.
We do this through an asymmetry of gains – where the success of a project has large or infinite upside, and the failure of a project has minimal downside.
“By definition chance cannot lead to long term gains (it would no longer be chance); trial and error cannot be unconditionally effective: errors cause planes to crash, buildings to collapse, and knowledge to regress. The beneficial properties need to reside in the type of exposure, that is, the payoff function and not in the "luck" part: there needs to be a significant asymmetry between the gains (as they need to be large) and the errors (small or harmless), and it is from such asymmetry that luck and trial and error can produce results.” [Nassim Taleb]
Before we start our project, we want to set the stage for success by creating asymmetrically beneficial goals.
These are the types of goals we can start, finish, and ship, with little negative downside (i.e. publishing a kindle book; if it doesn’t take off, it only costs us our time), but with very large or infinite upside (i.e. once that kindle book is out there, it could take off and result in thousands of sales).
This allows us to test the waters without drowning if our first attempt isn't a complete success.
As long as we can test safely (and when I say test, I mean shipping a product or project and receiving feedback from the client or consumer), we can continue to test and tweak as necessary.
In essence, we live to fight another day, which allows us to eventually realize our goals.
Too often, people start with grandiose, unstructured plans that require a home run on the first try. And then, if it doesn’t work (and it often doesn't), they go back to the grind that life gives them.
Don’t sabotage your success by relying on random chance to get you through.
Instead, start small, set audacious (but asymmetrically beneficial) goals, work every day to bring them to life (even when it’s scary), and, whatever you do, keep fighting.
Eventually, you’ll break through.
Eventually, you'll get the payoff.
Eventually, you’ll create your life’s work.
But only if you instigate the right way (and instigate continually).
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“there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things…” [Niccolo Machiavelli]
The instigator is the first to break the old by leading the new.
The instigator is the first to jump out of the helicopter; the first onto the beach; the first into the fray.
The instigator duels with order and dances with uncertainty.
The Art of Instigating is about taking the lead, not in spite of uncertainty, but because of it; it’s about doing the difficult thing not in spite of the difficulties, but because of them; it’s about daring greatly not in spite of the perils, but because things are perilous.
The instigator doesn’t dare anything in spite – he only dares because.
Don't miss the release of my upcoming book, The Art of Instigating; subscribe here.
Success isn't random.
Creating a successful project is no different.
A business (whether an individual writing novels, a corporation selling insurance, or a nonprofit doing charitable work) is nothing more than a series of projects.
A successful business, therefore, is nothing more than a series of successful projects.
Look at any successful company – Coke, Nike, Apple, Kickstarter, Amazon, Chic-fil-A, Lululemon, Rogue Brewery – do you think their success is simply luck?
Or is it more likely that these companies have a system for instigating successful projects?
Creating a successful project is not about luck or coincidence (although either may help or hurt your project).
On the contrary, there are historically proven steps you can take in order to be successful.
*note: Every single one of the companies I listed above follows some form of this model for upper and lower level management when taking on any new project or product launch.
The following are 3 proven steps to guarantee your success in any project you're about to instigate:
What’s the last goal you set? Did you reach it? If not, where is that goal right now? Above your computer? In your wallet? Taped to the visor in your car?
A goal is only as good as your focus.
There are great tips out there for creating compelling, powerful goals (the SMART method is excellent: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound), but none of it matters if you don’t review your goal daily…
And then take action daily to achieve the goal.
Goals give purpose and direction to our actions, but we need to review and maintain the goal daily to make sure we don’t get sidetracked.
Tip: Set a goal, write it down, and review it every day. It seems so painfully obvious it almost hurts to write – but how often do we put this common sense to practice?
Another one that seems obvious, but how often do we actually commit AND follow through with our projects?
There are ways to measure the success and failure rate of start-ups There are ways to determine the revenue generated from a specific advertising campaign. There are ways to identify the conversion rate of your product's splash page.
There is no way to measure all the projects that failed before they started.
There’s no way to determine the success or failure of a project if we never make it through the brainstorming and thrashing stage.
If our great idea stays an idea, it fails.
If we set a goal but never follow through, we fail.
Tip: Once you've identified your goal, commit your time, energy and focus toward realizing it. Don’t stop until it’s finished. Follow through.
This is what separates successful companies from failed companies.
The pattern of all great companies (and all great instigators) is to create, ship, measure, refine, and ship again.
The beauty of this method: it plans for future failure.
When Pepsi released Crystal Pepsi in 1993, they pushed the marketing and advertising campaign hard. And, for a short (very short) period of time, it was successful.
Until it wasn’t.
Pepsi didn’t push the failing product; they pulled it from the market. They tweaked the formula and released a citrus variation called Crystal from Pepsi, which you probably never heard of, because that failed too. They pulled it from the market.
Pepsi didn’t try to release a new version; the clear-Pepsi thing simply wasn’t working. So Pepsi took the measured results and used them for future product and marketing campaigns (Sierra Mist).
Pepsi can get away with more large scale product failures than we can, but we can still mimic the fundamental pattern of how they create and introduce new products to market (a system that has more wins than losses).
Eventually, one of these products will be successful. That’s the nature of measuring, refining, and shipping; you will eventually create something successful (i.e. something people want and will pay money for).
It’s not guess work; the creation of a successful product is very much a scientific process of measuring results and modifying inputs.
Tip: As long as we learn from our mistakes and use that information to shape future projects and products, we will inevitably create a successful offering. Always measure, always refine, always ship.
The success of a project has nothing to do with luck.
Serendipity and providence can help us, sure, but if we rely on either to propel us toward success, we’re destined to fail.
Serendipity and providence only help those who don’t seek them.
And while we don’t have control over our lucky breaks, we do have control over something more powerful: our actions.
"Life is pretty simple: you do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works." - Leonardo da Vinci
You’ve made the decision; you’ve stepped into the arena.
You’re fully aware of what this means – there will be pain, setback, and failure.
But running blindly into battle isn’t the point. Any ‘go-getter’ can take an idea and run with it straight into oncoming traffic.
No, the skilled fighter understands that while he will take a beating, that’s not his job – his job is to give a beating.
The point of accepting future failure isn’t to justify recklessness; it’s to prepare accordingly to ensure success.
Before conducting any form of operation, military leaders do something called Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield, or IPB for short.
The purpose of IPB is to identify failure points.
IPB is a process where military leaders define the battlefield environment, describe what effects the battlefield will have on friendly and enemy forces alike, evaluate the enemy threat in the area, and determine possible enemy courses of action.
Its purpose is to let us know where we are weak and where we are strong, but most importantly, to let us know where we are most likely to fail.
Here’s how you can apply IPB to your project so you can:
The following are 4 simple steps to identify and overcome failure before it happens:
Before we dive straight into writing our epic 1,000 page novel, it behooves us to take a step back and consider the environment where we do battle.
If you’re writing a 1,000 page novel, you’re not in the comic book arena. Nothing a comic book writer says should affect your writing.
If you’re building a new monthly subscription / web-based software platform, you’re not in the digital download arena. Your content is web-based on purpose; people pay to use it monthly and expect all the benefits of cloud based service. Nothing a digital download developer says should affect what you create.
If you’re the CEO of a small startup that sells rubber kettlebells, you’re not in the treadmill arena. You’re also not in the free weight arena. Your product is very specific and serves a very specific audience.
Key Takeaway: Identify your area of operation and your left and right limits. Make sure you know your objective, what you’re doing, and how you plan to get there. Avoid distractions. If you don’t, you might find yourself wildly off course and months behind deadline because you wandered into someone elses battle space (i.e. started drawing pictures instead of writing).
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” [Napoleon Bonaparte]
Once you understand where you’re doing battle, you can begin to analyze how the battlefield will affect you and the Enemy.
If you’re writing a novel, the journey is long, lonely, and has virtually no intermediate reward. The payoff, if any, will be at the end. This can break even the strongest spirit.
On the contrary, writing a novel is a solo project and requires virtually no capital. You don’t need a team, just yourself. The downside risk is limited, the upside potential unlimited.
The Enemy benefits from the long journey (more chances to stop you, break you, and make you quit), but because there are less moving parts, the Enemies efforts to disrupt your progress will be limited.
The small business owner has a team to support him, but more moving parts mean more possible failure points.
The Enemy can’t use the same psychological warfare on the person with a small team that he can use on the solo writer, but he can create even more diversions by making the owner focus too much on one aspect of the problem, or get him to sidetrack the entire project to work on a tertiary aspect of the business.
Key Takeaway: Get to know the environment you’re working in so you can better prepare yourself for the (inevitable) Enemy attacks. Understand that every battlefield environment can benefit you in some way and hinder you in some way. Never forget the same goes for the Enemy.
This one is a given.
You’ve entered the arena. This is where fights take place.
Only a fool would enter the arena not expecting another gladiator to emerge.
Key Takeaway: Analyze and study the Enemy. Know you will encounter the Enemy. Find ways to break the Enemy faster than he can break you.
“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.” [Sun Tzu]
By using historical examples from your own experience and others who have gone before you, you can predict with relative certainty how the Enemy will try to thwart your plans.
For the writer, the Enemy will use psychological operations to destroy morale. The Enemy will taunt the writer telling him he can’t make it, his work isn’t’ good enough, he doesn’t know anyone in the business, and who is he to even try. The Enemy loves using status quo propaganda against the writer, and will constantly work to stop the writer from doing what he must do: write.
For the entrepreneur, the Enemy will use disruptive bad habits to destroy the project. The Enemy will focus on developing poor time management skills in the entrepreneur. The Enemy will create disruptions and diversions by drawing attention to tasks that don’t need to be completed (to actually ship the product), or superficial time wasters that have no impact on the success of the venture. The Enemy will keep the entrepreneur from doing the one thing every entrepreneur must do: sell the product.
Key Takeaway: Predict possible Enemy attacks so you are better prepared to deal with them. Knowing how the Enemy will attack allows you to counter the attack and finish your project on time.
Have you identified your failure points?
If not, you’re betting on luck to get you through to the end.
Take the time to identify your failure points and prepare yourself ahead of time.
Your success depends on it.
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Never fight alone. Join the Resistance:
Whether you recognize it or not, you’re at war.
This is not a conventional war:
The battle lines change every day. The warzone is rarely defined.
Sometimes the enemy is very clearly in front of you, pummeling you with everything they've got; other times, the enemy is lurking in the shadows right beside you, waiting for a moment of weakness before they attack.
And your allies aren't who you would expect – but they’re more powerful than you realize.
The warzone is not your physical environment – although the physical environment can help (or hinder) your campaign.
The enemy is not a person – in fact, the enemy is nothing external at all.
And your allies are not your friends or family, nor are they the people in the cubicle next to you at work.
This is a war fought in the neural trenches of your brain.
The enemy is the army of bad habits you've accumulated over the year – building and expanding its empire one brain-map territory at a time.
Your allies, if you choose to call upon them, are the virtuous and productive thoughts you put into your mind; they will support you when you are weak, and help you expand your territory when you are strong.
And you are the insurgent because you seek change, you desire improvement, and you want to build something of value.
You are outnumbered and outgunned.
The enemy controls nearly all brain map territory.
Your allies can help, but they can't fight the battle themselves; they need you to lead.
Will you choose to fight? Will you lead? Will you instigate?
You're at war whether you recognize it or not.
This is the second post in the Seth Godin meetup series. You can find the first post here. Stay tuned and sign up for my free newsletter so you don't miss the next post in the series (hint: it's about designing a website that converts, telling a story that sells, and building a brand that people remember).
If you've been following the blog, you know I attended a Seth Godin event last week.
Seth is the marketing and writing genius behind Poke the Box, Linchpin, Purple Cow, and over a dozen other best sellers.
Below, I've compiled a list of 21 insights, lessons, thoughts, and riffs from the first day of the event.
The main ideas are Seth's, but I've taken liberty to expand and explain to make the content actionable. Enjoy!
Make being on time and shipping on time a discipline. Never be late - never ship late. Set a date and commit to it. Once you've committed to the date rather than quality, the quality of your product will go up.
Once you realize you're a teacher, it's not hard to find students.
Freelancers get paid when they work (hours for dollars), entrepreneurs get paid when they sleep.
Here’s the thing: when you're freelancing, the cheapest possible person to hire is YOU. This is dangerous. It means you’ll keep resorting to hiring yourself. And if you keep hiring yourself, there’s no one to focus on the vision or growth of the company.
So if you’re going to focus on being a freelancer, then hire someone to do the entrepreneurial aspect of your work (to manage resources and focus on growing and expanding the business) or get over your fear of doing it yourself.
People don't know what they want, so don't ask them. Build, ship, refine, repeat.
Your job isn't to persuade or change peoples minds; your job is to amplify the people who already get the joke. The people that understand and appreciate your message - those are the people you should aim to please and delight, not the stranger who doesn't get what you're saying.
Reviews don't matter (good or bad). Comments don't matter. If you worry about reviews or comments, you're letting the lizard brain hold you back.
Sales are a side effect of giving. If you give consistently and for a long time, when it's time to offer something for sale (seminar, conference, book, product, etc.), people will be ready and willing to buy it.
Instead of trying to make a sales call (which immediately puts up a wall and makes the conversation antagonistic), take people to lunch.
If you're going to write something, make sure it's worth reading. Instead of worrying about the masses, worry about the small group of people who want to hear from you. The masses won't read your book anyway - they've already read 50 Shades of Grey, their one book for the year.
Write your book only if you can say to yourself with certainty: this is going to blow the minds of 10 people. Now write out loud for these people.
Everyone wants to be on the Forbes 100 (everyone in that niche, who reads that publication); everyone wants to be on the Inc. 500 list (again, everyone in that market).
By creating a top 50, top 100, top whatever list, you make people who AREN'T on the list want to be on the list; you make people who aren't number 1 try to be number 1 next year; and you make number 1 try to stay number 1.
Creating a list is a self-feeding marketing tactic. Use it if you can.
You can't protect an idea. If you’re worried about someone stealing your idea, stop worrying. It’s a complete waste - you can't keep them from finding out eventually, so why worry?
Ideas aren't scarce. What’s scarce is doing the difficult work to bring the idea to life (because someone will quickly take your place)
Deep (meaningful, personal and few) is better than wide (shallow and many)
It's natural to feel like a fraud. It's natural to be scared of what people might think of you. Instead of stressing out over this, ask yourself this question:
If people knew your story (fully exposed) would they still buy your book?
What do you want? Do you want more customers, more readers, more clients, more revenue per share, more revenue per customer, more buzz about your product, more growth....?
Decide what you want so you know where to go.
When you're more afraid of letting people down than doing the work, you'll do the work.
Do you think Martha Stewart comes up with the apple pie recipe she makes on tv? She doesn't worry about that; she simply curates. Her NAME is what makes money – people want the product because she uses the product. If she had someone else present the material, show it off, run the show, people wouldn't want it.
We want to hear it from Martha, not Martha's team.
If you want to be an expert (in this style, form or fashion), then you can't build a team to tell people about products that they want YOU to tell them about.
Whatever you're building: you can't have insiders if you don't have outsiders. Don't be afraid to make people angry or upset at what you produce. It's important that those people exist - it means they are the outsiders and you can focus on delighting the insiders.
Don’t end the conversation when someone says no to your sale. Instead, tell them a personal story. Tell them how you felt the same way, but then you found out a new piece of information that made you change your mind (I didn't want to buy this new car, but then I took it for a test drive and found the comfort of the seats and the handling remarkable). Or explain how others felt the same way, but that was BEFORE they learned this new piece of information (ex: after they went for a test drive they changed their minds).
Writing a novel is a long, lonely journey with no immediate pay off. It's only payoff, if ever, is after a long, long time. The feedback from your effort takes a while; you have to push for a long time to get any sort of response.
Blogs, on the other hand, have a short reaction time and almost immediate feedback (push, get response).
Regardless of the feedback time, don't let "the lizard brain" neuter your storytelling (if the story you have to tell might offend people, don't change it).
People don’t want to hear what you do, they want to know what you're passionate about, what you struggle with, and they want to be told a story.
What results do you want (from your business, product, book, etc.)? The focus of what you measure will be your results (if you focus on revenue per share, you'll increase revenue per share). Your results are the consequence of where you focus.
What is your super power?
Be remarkable. Be memorable. Be something and do something that many people will hate and that others can’t live without. The more you push to the edge, the more remarkable you become.
By becoming more stereotypical, you become the person to go to for that topic/niche/market.
Don't water down your message.
Be edgy.
Hope you enjoyed these nuggets of wisdom. If you did, I only ask 2 things:
1) Share this post with someone else (spread the love!)
2) Post a comment below and let us know how you're using these insights to improve your business, brand, or blog (or whatever you're working on!).
p.s. if you don't want to miss the next post in this series, sign up for my free newsletter.
Enjoy this post? Check out my book Notes From Seth Godin's Revolution Conference where I divulge everything I learned over the course of 2 Days with Seth Godin.
Stuck?
Maybe you're asking the wrong questions.
The following are 14 essential questions you need to ask yourself if you're starting (or trying to finish) anything. These questions will help you pinpoint where you're bottlenecked, as well as help you break through the hurdles you're experiencing. The following list will help you:
One last thing before we get to the list: none of it matters unless you start.
If you're not taking action, all the questions in the world can't help you write that book, build that business, or lead that organization/tribe/gang whatever.
Use these questions to clarify your proposition. But if you're stuck answering these questions (us over-thinkers tend to do this), then err on the side of bold action.
Start even if you're not sure.
Begin before you're ready.
The answers will come when you start moving.
If you said everyone, you already failed. Be specific. Now get more specific. Now get abnormal (aka seek out the fringe or the people on the edge).
Identifying the fringe/edge/abnormal of your target market is essential in order to capture the early adopters, who more eagerly spread your message.
You can learn more about early adopters in The Long Tail; suffice it to say, getting the small group of people who are SEEKING your product is much better than trying to break into the mass market (more on that below).
The majority of people (the mass market) desire safety and stability, and when given a choice, many people choose the safe route.
Here’s the thing: you don’t have the time or resources to tap into the mass market, so playing to the desires of safety and stability may not progress your goals. Since you will need to tap into the fringes, make sure you understand what they believe. Do not tap into mass market beliefs to sell to the abnormal.
Believe it or not, most people in the world have never bought something new. Shopping is a western luxury; most people in developing nations couldn’t fathom going to the store with the intent to spend money on something they’ve never used before. In many cases, spending money is life or death for these people.
Key takeaway: Focus on people who want to consume something new (and have the resources to consume it). If you're trying to spread an idea in a developing country, understand they probably don't want something new.
If they don’t, how will they find you? If they don't know you and can't find you, how can they buy from you? If you’re hoping to have someone else promote you or sell your content, you’re banking on a gate-keeper to choose you. While possible, highly unlikely. Pick yourself instead by connecting with people and making sure they know you exist!
Actionable step: Not sure how to get noticed? Why not start a kick ass blog like this one and get your name out there?
Trust is a tough word. Someone might trust you because you have integrity, but if you're a mechanic and you offer to do heart surgery on a friend, maybe their trust in you stops with car maintenance. On the other hand, if someone you know has a reputation as the best heart doctor in the world, and he tells you that you need a transplant and he'd be happy to help, you're much more likely to trust him. Trust depends on what you’re selling, what you’re making, and who you’re interacting with.
Key takeaway: Become the best in the world at what you do - be the perceived expert - and then build relationships to establish yourself as a trusted expert in that area. When people wonder who they should go to in order to develop a new line of silk shoelaces, and you design and sell silk shoelaces, there shouldn't be a question in their minds to go to anyone else.
3 ways you can connect:
Everything you’re making, whether you’re writing a book, creating a business, or leading a gang, seeks to solve a problem. If you’re writing a mystery novel, you’re solving the reader’s boredom problem. The more specifically you can identify the problem, the better you can identify how your solution solves the problem.
If you’re selling a commodity, it’s very likely someone will undercut your price. So what makes you stand out? If someone sees what you’re doing, what will keep them from beating you at your own game?
This includes costs to connect, build trust, and then actually sell the product. Even for those writing books or screenplays, it’s worth considering (at least on a conceptual level) how much time and energy you’ll need to put into getting your book or script published or sold.
This refers to the customer himself. If he buys from you, is that the end of the relationship? Or do you sell other products or services that he can come back to and buy later ? Some customers buy often and consistently, and you can predict that they’re lifetime value is much greater than a single purchase.
Example: Amazon determined their customer lifetime value was $33. That’s how much money every customer would bring in over the course of their lifetime. So any time Amazon had to decide where to spending advertising/marketing dollars, they had a standard on which to base their decisions. For Amazon, if new ad space costs more than $33 to attract a new customer, it's not worth the money.
If so, you should either be producing it that way (without losing quality), or you should get out of the game fast (somebody will undercut your prices and drive you out of business).
Speed doesn’t matter…unless it does. If one of the qualities of what you do (whether write, sell, or lead) involves the speed at which you produce/create/execute (say, daily blog posts, or one-click purchasing, or next day delivery), then be fast. Otherwise, use slowness as a characteristic of quality and let your customer know why it takes you 3 weeks to ship your product.
I hope you enjoyed this post.
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When will you start?
That's really the question, isn't it?
It's not a matter of what to do; if you’re reading this, deep down in your gut there is something calling you. Go do that.
It’s not a matter of how to do it; want to know how to create a blog? It’s free online. Want to know how publish a book? It’s free online. Want to know how to create a business selling shoes? You guessed it – free online. Pick a direction and go with it.
It’s not a matter of whether it can be done; it's your choice, there are books and people that can show you successful ways to do it, and even the seemingly impossible is proven possible (again, and again, and again).
No, the question you have to ask yourself is: when will you start?
You either start now or you don't.
Anything else is an attempt to rationalize fear and justify hiding.
Start now.
What separates the instigator from 99.9% of society?
It's not being the smartest - plenty of entrepreneurs and artists will freely admit they're not the sharpest tools in the shed.
It's not connections - there are plenty of people with connections that never go on to do anything great.
It's not luck - plenty of people get lucky and throw it all away (stories of lottery winners going bankrupt come to mind).
No, what separates the instigators from the rest is much harder than any of that:
In a combat zone, the "wire" is a reference to the perimeter of an operating base or outpost. If you're inside the wire, you're often surrounded by friendly forces, gate guards, walls, and concertina wire. For survival's sake, inside the wire is the place you want to be.
Instigators, starters, and leaders step outside the wire.
They understand the danger and they accept the risk. When they step outside the wire, they are stepping into the unknown - there are no guarantees of success and there is a very real possibility of failure.
They are fully exposed.
The instigator understands that if it wasn't risky, there'd be no payoff:
"If everything is known and certain, that means it's all been done before." - Uncertainty
Recognizing the unknown is the instigator's greatest asset.
When you step outside the wire often enough, you will make contact with the enemy.
For the instigator, the enemy takes many forms: critics, naysayers, unhelpful advice from people inside the wire, superficial support from friends and family, and worst of all: your own negative thoughts (self-talk, status-quo propaganda).
Instigators know that when things get gamey, they need to stay calm and collected, and transform their fear into fuel for the fight:
"The ability not only to endure but to invite, amplify, and exalt uncertainty, then reframe it as fuel is paramount to your ability to succeed as a creator. Visionary innovation and creativity cannot happen when every variable, every outcome, every permutation is known and has been tested and validated in advance.” - Uncertainty
Instigators know that the middle of a battle is not the time to question why they’re doing what they do. It is at these moments when it is most important to buckle down and do the work.
Followers respond.
Leaders make choices.
Making a choice is one of the hardest, most uncomfortable and most unnatural things we can do as human beings. Making a choice – ANY choice – is psychological warfare:
“It’s not because it’s easy, it’s not because it’s trivial, it’s not because we don’t care. It’s the opposite. It’s because we care, it’s difficult, and it’s complex – and it’s so complex that we don’t know what to do, and because we have no idea what to do, we just pick whatever it was that was chosen for us.” - Dan Ariely
The instigator understands this weakness in others and recognizes it as an opportunity to lead.
It takes real courage to start something from scratch.
It takes bravery to step foot into the unknown of creation.
Trying to capture the elusive and ephemeral images from your imagination so you can put them on paper in such a way as to elicit a meainingful reaction from the reader is hard (way harder than sideline critics realize).
Trying to build a sustainable business that improves the world (your world, meaning your clients, your customers, and your community), while simultaneously affording you a healthy living is hard.
Trying to create and lead an organization is hard.
It’s hard, but the instigator chooses to do the hard thing anyway.
“The warrior knows that he is free to choose his desires, and he makes these decisions with courage, detachment and – sometimes – with just a touch of madness.” - Warrior of the Light
What separates the instigator from 99.9% of society?
Instigators do the things that scare them.
What have you done recently that scared you? Share your comments below.
In the first stage of instigating, life takes it easy on you.
In the beginning, you have beginners luck on your side.
You get lucky by running into someone who wants to promote your product, or a clever blog post you write takes off, or you add 50lbs to your bench-press in the first month back at the gym.
You can do no wrong, and the constant positive feedback from friends and family energizes you and makes doing the work easy.
Until...the next product run doesn't sell, or the next 100 blog posts go nowhere, or you plateau at that first month’s bench-press weight for the next 6 months.
In the second stage of instigating, the reality of the path you're on becomes clear. During the second stage of instigating, life will throw everything it’s got at you to get you to fold.
It wants to break you like Ivan wants to break Rocky:
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The setbacks and failures during this period will make you question everything.
You recognize your own shortcomings and question your ability to progress.
You finally understand the distance you have to cover to get where you want to be and it's a longer and more confusing journey than you anticipated – and you question your ability to finish.
You thought your initial enthusiasm would get you through the bad days, but you didn't expect those lows to be quite so low – and you question whether you should just throw in the towel.
Here’s the real question: Do you quit and go back, or do you stick it out?
This isn't a rhetorical question.
There’s nothing that makes the latter nobler; learning to suffer is something the masses have excelled at for centuries, so what? And there is nothing that makes quitting, in and of itself, unvirtuous (quitting binge drinking, smoking meth, or beating your spouse are all things that many would agree are great things to quit)
The truth is this: there are some things worth quitting.
And sometimes we need to test and expand and explore a path before we realize it’s wrong.
Picasso never would have painted if he hadn't quit writing.
Abraham Lincoln never would have been president if he hadn't quit law.
Mark Zuckerberg never would have created Facebook if he hadn't quit developing Synapse.
Some of the most successful people in the world quit so they can focus on something else.
So if you need to quit, quit.
There is no shame in walking away from an endeavor if you realize you can’t be the best in the world at it.
"In a free market, we reward the exceptional." - Seth Godin [The Dip]
But remember this: anything worthwhile is difficult.
Anything worth doing is confusing, and uncertain, and brutal, and disheartening, and depressing, and painful, and (sometimes) bloody.
Anything worthy of your time and effort will make you (at times) want to pull your hair out, give up and walk away.
It's during this time, when you know you're doing something worthwhile, that the following advice is so applicable:
"when you reach the emotional quit point, grit your teeth and go one step further - one more attempt, one more day. Edison was right; in many cases one more step would either solve the problem or advance you enough to see the finish line, which would produce a second wind." - Tim Sanders [Today We Are Rich]
The point of quitting the journey you're on isn't to escape the journey itself - you can't run away from it - it's so that you commit to the right journey.
If you decide to quit, quit so that you can be the best in the world at something else.
What’s your journey? Thinking of quitting, or have you already quit to move on to something better? Share your comments below.
p.s. if you find this article intense, it’s because this stuff is mental warfare. Nobody should fight alone – subscribe to my newsletter and join the small but growing army of instigators (aka The Resistance). And remember: if you’re reading this, you are The Resistance.