Barriers are your enemy October 17, 2005 · 39 comments It’s surprising to me when I hear someone come up with something they want to do, but–in the same conversation–they go through every conceivable thing that could go wrong, and conclude that it will never work. It’s like they have all the physical manifestations of running a marathon, but they never left their chair. think the source of 95%+ of barriers to success is…ourselves. It’s not our lack of resources (money, education, etc). It’s not our competition. It’s usually just what’s in our own heads. Barriers are more than just excuses–they’re the things that make us not get anything done. And not only do we allow them to exist around us, we encourage them. There are active barriers and passive barriers, but the result is still the same: We don’t achieve what we want to. This happened to me a few years back, when I tried to start an education company with a couple of friends. We solicited feedback on the prototype (from our friends–you’ll see why this was a mistake). And what was the #1 question we got? Not “What’s the market size?” or “how do your financials look?” or “what do your users say–would they use it?” Nope, we never got those questions. The most common question: “Don’t you need a business license to run a company?” * * * I hate theory, so I’ll keep it short: These are the the 2 types of barriers I’ve thought of, and they’ve helped me frame my thinking: Active barriers, the kind that stop you from doing something, and passive barriers, whose absence actually stops you from getting things done. Active barriers are physical things like the plastic wrap on my food, or someone telling me that it’ll never work, etc. These are hard to identify, but easy to fix. I usually just make them go away. Passive barriers are things that don’t exist, so they make your job harder. A trivial example is not having a stapler at your desk; imagine how many times a day that gets frustrating. For me, these are harder to identify and also harder to fix. I might rearrange my room to be more productive, or get myself a better pen to write with, etc. In another example, a design student named Maja Kecman realized a barrier–of doing laundry.As a fix, she created WashingSacks: The WashingSacks, designed by industrial design engineer graduate Maja Kecman, are nifty dissolving laundry bags impregnated with washing liquid. Once filled up with laundry the bags can be placed straight into the washing machine. Very cool. If I had that, I wouldn’t dread doing laundry. Imagine how that could apply to things you dread. You can use barriers to your advantage The good news is that you can use barriers to your advantage. Want to watch less TV? Throw the remote control away. Want to drink less Coke? Don’t buy it at the grocery store. It’s not rocket science, but it works. You don’t know what you don’t know I have a friend who I’ve been helping with jobs over the last few weeks. She’s doing fine but has one very peculiar view: She thinks she’ll never succeed in the corporate world. Why? I calmly asked, knowing I wouldn’t remain so for very much longer. She told me that she thinks she’s “not confrontational enough and not aggressive enough.” Oh my god. Ok, here’s the thing: First of all, you don’t necessarily need those characteristics to succeed in business. Second, what does “succeed” mean to her? Third, and most important of all, does she have any idea what she’s talking about? I’ll answer that myself: no. Any guesses why? Because she’s never worked in the corporate world. Most of us don’t know what we don’t know. I’m included, you’re included, everyone’s included. (This is why, when it came to our friends’ feedback on our company idea, we took it with a grain of salt, because they didn’t know what they didn’t know.) And in ambiguous situations like these, we look to cues around us to guide our attitudes and behaviors, cues that are reassuring. Isn’t it more comforting to say “Aw that’ll never work” than to actually dive deep, talk to people who know what they’re talking about, and figure it out for ourselves? Of course it’s easier to say no. Creating barriers is easy–especially the kind that let you do nothing. If someone approached you about starting a business, would your first questions be about who gets how much equity? Or who’s going to steal your idea? If so, you’ve successfully created a barrier. Fortunately, most other people do exactly this–so if you’re the rare person who doesn’t, you win.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 13:49:58 +0000
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