no worries

Fail more

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

REF22 Greatness 150x150cm

This year, fail more.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying you should try to fail. What I mean is that you need to take more risks. You need to put more of your ideas into action – even the ones you haven’t fully worked out yet.

Of course if you do that, you’re going to fail more. But you’re also going to succeed more. Thomas Edison once said, “I haven’t failed. I’ve discovered 10,000 ways that don’t work.”

You’re going to learn what works and what doesn’t. You’re going to discover that some of your great ideas actually suck, and you shouldn’t spend any more time on them. You’re also going to discover some new, truly great ideas because of those failures.

Launch things before they’re perfect. Go for 80-percent – good, not great. Modify and adjust as you go along.

In 2014, fail more.

Fail more is part of the “Little Voices” series. Little voices are like the angels on the shoulders you see in cartoons, but not just good or bad. There are much more Little Voices, like the fearful one, the daring one, the sensitive one, the one who doesn’t like change and so on, but all of them influence behavior in one way or the other. (this post is inspired by Ferdinandi)

Two Me’s

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

There are two Me’s.

There is the Me that runs ahead and there’s the Me that tries to follow as best as he can.

The first Me is moulded by education, conventions and society. That one thinks a lot on how to achieve things like a bigger house, another car, a better job, more important friends…. He is ambitious and pretty rational.

That Me has a more worrying character and is thinking of the future and how to realize things, while the other Me tries to catch up.

And I was thinking about the other Me. The Me Behind.

That Me has many happy thoughts and is always cheerful. That one is positive and always enjoying the moment. Is creative, empathetic, humorous and funny. He’s the child in Me. No worries and an open mind. Curious, energetic and bright. In short a nice human being.

Actually, when I think of it, I hardly know the face of the Me Ahead. I am always looking at his back, because the Me Behind is always trying to catch up with the Me Ahead. That is boring, not inspiring at all. I really have to catch up and walk faster.

Today I realized that it is a pretty stupid thing. Instead of trying to catch up, Il shouted at the Me Ahead to slow down. That way the Me Behind could catch up easily and together they can enjoy, living in the moment, instead of out of synch.

That thought gave me a very good feeling. Liberating, even.

I invite everybody to join this thought.
Many people try to catch up with the Me Ahead and trying to be the Me Ahead. Fighting the demons, but why? Is it necessary to live up to the expectations of your parents, your friends, colleagues or society? Stop and think. Look at the original you, the Me Behind and think about it. That one is perfect, reboot and start living. Good luck.