There is an art to letting small Bad Things happen (if you’re at all familiar with Timothy Ferriss you might know this concept). Big or small, a Bad Thing is most definitely a Bad Thing and while your subconscious is stuck on this rock it will start to create more blockages and productivity will be reduced and deadlines will be missed and revenue will decrease and clients will flee and relationships will crumble… You get the idea.
This “freak out” cannot happen. Imagine if you create an awesome product that will sell to a very big but very focused niche only to find out that half of your customer support team goes sick losing you 30% of your monthly profits. Do you reallocate and reduce your effective manpower and production while not trying to fix customer relations with would-be buyers to effectively increase profits or do you flop by trying to please 100% of your customer base with so little manpower it’s not even funny?
I’m not a learned businessman, but choosing option two sounds like suicide.
Making Mistakes Gracefully
I used to (and still do, sometimes) have a really big problem with failure. Thus, success would be too far away to grasp. This seems like a gross misallocation of valuable brain waves. This is something that I work on constantly and it all stems from not wanting to let Little Bad Things happen. Mostly, these Little Bad Things are just that; little. So, I learned a great trick for the Little Bad Things.
Stop caring. This is the most direct way I can describe the act of making graceful mistakes.
First: Assess your Bad Thing.
How life changing is it? What goal will you be unable to attain were your Bad Thing to happen? There are some cases where Bad Things are Really Bad. If this is the case, letting it happen may not be the answer you are looking for. Perhaps it is other, smaller, Not So Bad Things that you can let happen to decrease the chances of that Really Bad Thing happening. I don’t recommend letting important Bad Things (something you must decide on) happen, nor do I recommend going out of your way to instigate a Bad Thing.
Second: Sort out this and other Bad Things.
I’m serious with this. Don’t worry if it seems obsessive. Figure out which of your Bad Things is the Worst and Best. Meaning, decide which Bad Things you can let happen and which you can’t.
Third: Let your selected Bad Things happen.
In a word: relax. This last step really doesn’t even need to be here, but to illustrate a point. Free yourself from the Little Bad Things you are about to let happen and enjoy the fact that you have a couple less things to worry about. This is, after all, the goal.
Conclusion
Letting small Bad Things happen is not only beneficial to your larger projects and to-do items, but it may also ease your mind greatly. This is not to say letting Bad Thing after Bad Thing after Bad Thing happen is a good idea. In fact, this is completely illogical. Rather, thinking about the consequences of each Bad Thing is key.
Dude, I was there about 20 years ago, get over it.
Your ramblings about this subject suck balls. Very little
content, just trying to make space…
‘Bad Things…’ ‘Little Bad Things.’
Grow some BALLS DUDE!
What mistakes have you made? I will trade…
If you are thinking about Tim Ferriss you need to do your homework.
Thank you for testing my theory!
What’s your theory?
Greetings from a differing point of view.
Firstly, the intent and message presented by Tim Ferris has been given a miss by your article. The intent is to define what you fear and then confront that fear, in so doing the message will come through that you can still achieve great things even if your fears are realized.
Understanding that “Bad things” are a product of fear is key to the message that Tim Ferris presents. This is learned knowledge for Mr. Ferris. He learned this concept from a Roman philosopher, Seneca, who suggested that one should face his or her fears to reduce the paralyzing effect of fear. Thus, allowing yourself to better take risk and accept success.
In the idea you present, “Letting little bad things happen,” you display an open fear of success, in that you are accepting failure openly so that you will not be required to follow through on difficult things later. When you allow yourself to determine the level of pain that a bad thing will cause so you can then “let it happen” you only succeed in increasing your tolerance for pain due to perceived “Bad things;” further, you allow greater and greater bad things to cause you pain due to your heightened tolerance for pain.
In conclusion, you seem to fear two things greater and more powerful than the “Bad things” you mentioned. You display an open fear of success and personal responsibility.
Robert: Thanks for a structured and intellectual reply. Something I’m still trying to improve.
It is no wonder that I missed Tim’s point completely, and that really wasn’t my intent. I was hoping to summarize and put into a differing perspective what he prescribed. Nothing to argue with you there.
It is more likely my approach that needs clarification and re-realization. Not my subject matter. I do not fear success nor personal responsibility. In fact, I was hoping to outline at least success as a byproduct of taking falls gracefully, rather than taking those falls to enforce a lackluster approach to other tasks later on.
Ben: My theory is now irrelevant.