Recently, I received a direct mail piece that caught my eye. It intrigued me not because of its stunning design but because it seemed as if it was delivered from another era, a message so old I imagined it being hand carried along the Silk Road to its addressee in Istanbul. Maybe it was stuck behind a vending machine at the post office for thirty years and when discovered was immediately sent on to me.

It was a VIP invitation to a sales event. On the front was a number and if I brought it to the showroom I could learn whether or not I won 1,000 bucks, no obligation necessary. These people wanted to actually pay me to be their customer. In fact, they claim to be the biggest and the greatest. They are THE AUTHORITY, with great buying power and they wanted to pass the savings on to me!

I am a baby boomer, a member of the wealthiest and healthiest generation of Americans our county has ever known. My generation has a lot of buying power so it’s not surprising that a company selling big ticket items would target me. What is surprising is that they were using the same marketing tactics on me that might have hooked my greatest generation era parents. Unfortunately for “The Authorities”, modern consumers are far more scam-conscious than our parents and much less forgiving when it comes to a violation of our trust.

For the last twelve years or so we have transitioned to what author Seth Godin calls a permission based culture where in a market of nearly unlimited choice, the customer is in control. We’re also in the middle of an ever growing movement to make government and business more transparent. The marketing  piece I received violates both of these forward thinking ideas.  By sending me an obnoxious mailer enticing me with a laughably bogus prize, “The Authorities” proved themselves to be just another amongst a long line of once successful companies doing the same old thing that worked for them in the past.In the not too distant future, this type of marketing message will appeal to no one.

Where will THE AUTHORITIES be then?

I’ve known a lot of clowns in my life, but none made me think more deeply about taking a chance as the one who could juggle four flaming bowling pins while riding a unicycle.

Watching this acrobatic jester sit atop a six foot unicycle and effortlessly toss the blazing pins through the air only to catch and return them to a radiant orbit with ease was a mesmerizing experience.  The kind of virtuoso performance that made the kid in me applaud for more and the adult in me wonder why I had never learned to juggle.

I’m not the type to ask a magician to reveal his tricks, but in this case I had to know. I get it, I said to the clown, who looked at me with as straight a face as a his big top makeup would allow. I get that with practice one can learn to juggle bowling pins. I get that with practice one could also learn to ride a unicycle. And I get that with much practice one could someday learn to do both at the same time. But when is one ever sure that he’s practiced enough to do all of the above and throw fire into the mix? When can one be so sure that the reward of publicly displaying such deft skill outweighs the pain of humiliation and possible second degree burns? When, I begged of this clown, when are you ready to light the pins on fire?

The clown held my gaze with eyes that were crying on the outside, but must’ve been laughing within. After a moment of reflection, he smiled and answered with the truest piece of advice an artist can ever submit:

You’re never ready. But sometimes, you gotta light ‘em up and see what happens.

In business, life and art there is always more assurance we’d like to have before committing our efforts. More research. More study. More certainty that it’s going to work. So call another meeting if it makes you feel better. Run it past another test audience. Make another draft or run the numbers one more time if you think it’ll quell your pre-launch jitters. Just remember what the clown said about waiting until you think you’re ready.

Now go light your pins on fire…and see what happens.

Last November I experienced a bad bicycle crash that really hurt me. Six weeks after my crash I started riding again but noticed I was unsure and nervous on the bike. I didn’t want to crash again and experience the extreme pain I had endured. A few weeks ago I joined a team to race in an endurance mountain bike race. I entered this race specifically to confront my fears. The first lap of the race was nerve-racking for me. I was hyperventilating and gripped my handle bars so tight that my hands quickly went numb. I was glad to hand the baton to my teammate when I finished the lap.

I did much better on my second lap, I was more relaxed and a little more confident. But, about half way through the lap I was being pursued hard by two riders as I was climbing the single track trail up a narrow ridge. After cresting the ridge I was bounding down and feathering my brakes because I was nervous. expired domains All of a sudden the guy behind me starts yelling “no brakes, don’t use your brakes.” This freaked me out a little so when I got to a clearing at the bottom of the hill I let him pass.

At first, I was shaken and a little offended but as I raced along I realized that the guy that was yelling no brakes really gave me good advice. I am a fairly competent rider on a high-tech full suspension bike and there was really no reason for me to slow down while bounding down that hill. On my third lap I found myself repeating no breaks over and over in my head as I attacked the course as best I could.

The week following the race I reflected on this a lot. I realized that it was the fear of crashing that was causing me to slow down. Then I thought about some of the other things in life and business that I was trying to accomplish, issues that were frustrating to me because they were moving too slow. I realized that I was putting the breaks on lots of things. It was my mind that was in the way.

All of us have desires to accomplish and create all sorts of things but for some reason we put on the brakes because we’re afraid to crash. We talk ourselves out of things all the time. Perhaps we’re afraid because we don’t receive validation from friends, family or coworkers. Our brains willingly accept their advice even though it goes against what we believe in our hearts. This is especially true if you’re trying to create something that’s never existed before, which I suspect is very often the case.

If we want to change we have to overcome the little voice inside our heads that doubts us. Yes, we will sometimes experience failure but we have to understand that failure is an integral part of success. Success and failure go hand in hand. It’s even possible to fail because of your success. When you’re successful you keep doing what made you successful to stay successful. But, the world changes around you and you can’t stay the same. That’s why the slogan for this blog is, “What got you here isn’t going to get you there.”

Don’t use your brakes.

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May you forever be reminded to forge ahead in pursuit of what really matters.

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