“If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems... [Academy]

Frank Wilczek said, “If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems and that’s a big mistake.” I remember when my son Tom was in first grade and was involved in wrestling. Tom was so skinny you could see his heartbeat through his skin. His singlet would just hang on him, almost looking for an opportunity to fall off.

One day when I was taking Tom to wrestling practice, remember he’s just in first grade, he said dad, I do pretty good when I wrestle my friends but there are some guys in my class who are really tough and I don’t want to wrestle them in practice. He said, they’re so strong, I can’t do anything. I just keep doing the wrong things and they pin me right
away.

I said, Tom, that’s the best way to learn by taking on the tougher guys and making mistakes. You don’t learn anything by wrestling people you know you can beat because you never make mistakes or have to get yourself out of trouble. But when you wrestle the tough guys and make a mistake, you have to figure out how to get yourself out of it.

That’s what life is all about.

Figuring out how to compensate for the mistakes you make so you can still go on to achieving your goal. He reluctantly started practicing with the tougher kids and improved a lot.

It’s a lot different today as Tom is now 6’2”, solid muscle with a body fat of less than 6%. He’s in amazing shape and decided not to pursue wrestling when he was in school. I know that lesson he learned as a youngster stayed with him. And now that he’s in his 40’s and competes in Jiujitsu, he will tell me how he goes up against the toughest guys in the dojo at every practice so when it’s time for a tournament he’s better prepared.

I see this phenomenon all of the time in salespeople. They let their fears keep them from attacking hard enough problems that may cause them to make mistakes. A prime example of this is prospecting for new business. Most salespeople hate prospecting because they’re afraid they’re going to make mistakes and lose the opportunity to get a new customer. Many salespeople rely heavily on plot data, programs and giving price deals because they’re afraid they’re not competent enough to sell themselves and fear they may make mistakes.

Are you the first grader avoiding wrestling the toughest kids?

What are you afraid of doing so you don’t screw it up. The most successful people I know say the reason for
their success was the number of mistakes they made in their lifetime. But they also say, you need to make as many mistakes as possible, just learn from each one and try to never repeat them.

Do you know what I’ve learned in my 52 years in the seed business by making mistakes left and right? I learned that not only is it ok to make mistakes, but nobody else cares how many mistakes you make or when you make them. So go forth and tackle the toughest problems you face and make mistakes. Everyone else has their own problems, just make sure you attack and solves yours.

Happy Selling