Str you trsfy yo tovk?
Are you ready to rock?
Ever start typing away at something only to look down and realize you are typing gibberish? Somehow your fingers got off by one key on the keyboard, and even though you were moving your fingers by memory in the right directions with ease, your message is completely unclear?
Does this make you want to give up typing? Probably not – you just delete and start again. You recognize that this happens for everyone, and it is no big deal. You don’t totally recreate the content or the purpose of what you were typing, you simply make a slight shift based on the realization that your fingers were in the wrong place, and you type on.
OK, so what does this have to do with success?
Some of you are experiencing a different version of the same thing in your business, and even life, endeavors. But rather than making a slight shift and continuing on (a course correction), you’re throwing out the whole idea and starting fresh (or stopping). Imagine if you did this every time you happened to put your fingers on the wrong keys! It is just as silly to do this in business and life. (Though don’t go beating yourself up for it).
3 feet from gold.
In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill tells the story of the prospector who was “three feet from gold” when he gave up and sold his mining equipment for scrap. The guy who purchased the used equipment hired an engineer, went back to the same mining site, and with the guidance of the engineer, found huge stores of gold just three feet from where the original prospector had given up.
See, the prospector had in idea, he invested in it, he took action, and got specific results. When he didn’t get the results he wanted, rather than just making a slight “one-key” adjustment (hiring an expert), he determined he must have been wrong, and stopped.
Where are you 3 feet from gold?
I see this happen all the time, whether it is the overall message of someone’s business, a specific campaign or launch they did, or even choices in relationships (work or personal). We try it one way, and if it doesn’t yield the exact results we wanted, we deem it a failure and decide we need to do “anything but that.” (Come on, who hasn’t dated one type of person, decided they were “not it” then dated the polar opposite?)
The problem is, you are generally not wrong. You did what you did for a reason. There is gold in the action you’ve already taken. (Even in that “failed” relationship). We just need to look down at the keyboard, interpret your results, and see where you got ever-so-slightly off course.
Tactical course correction
Maybe one piece of your message is slightly off, maybe what you are offering isn’t strategic or urgent for who you are offering it to, maybe you missed one small piece of follow-up that would have made the difference, and next time you will be ready to rock. (Unless you stop!)
Emotional course correction
Or possibly you got off course when someone said something to you as an offhand remark, and you chose to interpret that message in a manner that doesn’t serve you, and file it into your subconscious mind. You allowed it to hinder your belief in your mission, or your ability to deliver on it. Or your belief that you deserve to have the (business, life, relationship) of your dreams.
Don’t press the reset button, make a “one-key” adjustment.
Being slightly off, or stuck, is nothing more than feedback. It doesn’t mean that your mission won’t make you money, or that you are not the one to do it. And it doesn’t even mean that your execution is wrong. It simply means your interpretation of your results is off, and we need to make that “one key” adjustment.
In the instance of the gold miner, the key was having someone with a new perspective, and a level of expertise or experience, to take a look at the situation and guide the course correction. The same is likely true for you. Before you stop, stall, or change directions completely, get a guide.
Of course I recommend a coach, who will walk along side you and help you find the gold in what you’ve done, and discover where you are off. (I call myself an interpreter). Whether it is myself, or another coach who has the skills you need, please don’t CTR-ALT-DEL until you’ve shifted your perspective! The world needs your gold!