Part 5 — Managing Growth — Space Stone
It is never too late to be who you might have been. — George Elliot
“You know, I’m something of a scientist myself.” Norman Osborn said to Peter Parker. This is one of the most popular meme lines from Spiderman 1.
Well, I think I took that line a little too seriously.
I believe I’m something of a scientist myself too, but not because I am super curious or talented, not even because I love to try new things. But only because I get bored quickly. Give me something new to try, and I will get bored within a month tops, if not weeks or days. Consistency has been somewhat of an issue with my mind when it comes to skill development.
But no more.
To tackle my struggle with consistency, I started on a journey of writing one new article every day for 30 days on LinkedIn and Medium. Today I am writing the 29th article consistently. I am controlling my growth and engagement on these platforms, and I feel damn good about it.
You don’t need space or some miracle to grow.
The answer lies in consistency.
Verify and Discard
From my little professional experience, I can confirm the following. There are only two ways an experiment can really fail.
- You did not give the experiment enough time.
- You gave the experiment too long even though you knew it was a failure.
Scenario #1
The first scenario is prevalant amongst individuals like me who keep trying new things. They are not consistent enough with one idea and tend to jump ship as soon as things start looking awry, and they do not give the desired results. Patience and persistence is the only way they can save their experiments.
Scenario #2
In the second scenario, the individual knows full well that after giving enough time and jumping through various iterations of the experiment, it will not succeed. Still, the individual wants to carry on and stick to the idea. They do not have the nerve to consider that experiment a failure, move on, and then try something new.
Point to be noted: If the individual learns something and moves on with a new experiment after being consistent enough, it is not a failure. It is just a stepping stone to success.
This is where I am reminded of the quote by Edison.
When a reporter asked him, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” “Great success is built on failure, frustration, even catastrophe.”
Apart from verifying and conducting several experiments, to really grow, one must invest time in both complimentary and non-complimentary skills. They should be willing to go out of their area of expertise and try something new without the fear of failing.
If you invest the right amount of time, with the right amount of effort, and a pinch of courage to pivot when an idea doesn’t work out, you, my friend, have a recipe for success!
Onwards and Upwards!
