Thursday, May 31, 2012

Be a Weeble

When I grew up there was a Hasbro Playskool toy called 'weebles.' The marketing phrase that they used was: "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down."

People will try to tip you over. A lot.

Be a weeble.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Making Mistakes to Succeed

If we know we learn from our mistakes then why are we so afraid to make them? 

Well, it's not everyone - probably just two groups really.
 The first group are the people that really learned from their mistakes... they actually learned and internalized that the mistake they made didn't kill them and that they survived it. Plus they got some new data to make changes and keep trying.
 However, emotion is stronger than intellect. For the second group, they internalized the emotions that came with making mistakes rather than the benefits gleaned (data and survival). Feelings of foolishness, stupidity, embarrassment, and shame were part of their experience. These make us feel bad and become feelings that we want to avoid at all costs.  And yet those feelings don't really serve us except to make us shrink.

So which of the two groups is going to be more productive in today's world?

We like to say that your N.Q. (No-Quotient) is more important than your I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient). In today's world we believe that your N.Q. - the number of times you are willing to hear no's, make mistakes, try stuff, be rejected, and fail greatly will catapult you into an exclusive group in whatever endeavor you are involved in.  So... which group are you in?

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