Many people, when they hear of an idea that they like, respond by saying how good the idea is, and how much they like it. Not me. That isn’t the way my mind works. If you suggest an idea that I really like, my immediate reaction will be to list every single hurdle, issue, danger, obstacle or difficulty that I can think of.
It’s a response that makes a lot of people think I’m a pessimist, and I can sort of understand why they think that, but they’re really missing the point all together. I’m not listing the obstacles to try and convince you that it won’t work, I’m listing them so that together we can make sure it does work. I might even already have a solution for some of the obstacles I list, but unless I’m absolutely sure that my solution is a cracker I’ll still list the obstacle without mentioning my solution, because you may well come up with something much better if I just give you a few moments to think about it yourself. Basically, if I start telling you the problems with an idea it means that I think we can make it work, not that we can’t. If I think it can’t work, I will just say “nah, won’t work” and move on to something else. So it isn’t pessimism, it’s optimism, but an optimism that thinks the best chances of success come from examining all of the possibilities for failure (and then trying to make sure that they don’t happen).
What that means though, is that I always look at the possibilities of failure.
Continue reading “Day 10: A most significant day”
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