What if you didn’t have to worry about the what ifs?

I don’t know about you but I am often plagued by the “what ifs”.

What if it doesn’t work the first time?

What if something bad happens?

What if something unexpected happens?

What if I can’t predict the outcome?

What if it isn’t perfect?

I have heard it said that C average students are more successful than the “A” students when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Why?

Perhaps, fellow  “A” students, like me,  are trying to be perfect.

“C” students often don’t care as much about perfection.

“A” students may care about living up to expectations.

“C” students are possibly less driven by the fear of disappointing others.

In some ways, this grooms the “C” student to better handle life and the risks involved along the way toward achievement.

In school, we were tested on material that was already covered, so it was easy to know all the answers. Life, and business don’t work the same way I have found.

When we are young we are taught that we don’t want to have to “learn the hard way.” But in business, that is usually the only way. I’m not saying you can’t learn from other’s mistakes, but business is a lot more like riding a bike than doing a book report. It’s about trying, and trying, and trying. Nobody expects you to learn to ride a bike by reading a book about it. And even though most adults know how to ride a bike, they realize that their kids just have to make their own mistakes to figure it out. I wonder what other ways we could help our kids and ourselves learn to get comfortable with trial and error that is required for every great innovation and business model.

If you were a C student and you have some insight for this recovering A student, please post below. I’m all ears!

I certainly don’t have it figured out yet. I don’t have all the answers and I’m really uncomfortable with that. But I’m trying to get used to the reality of imperfection. So I’m going to leave this post as it is, without all the answers, and see how some of you have overcome the “what ifs.”