You can’t have a success-only policy

I recommend checking out Seth Godin’s new book, Poke the Box. It’ll take you an hour to read, and it’s worth the time, but the point is simple.

Do stuff. Put your plans into action. Get it off paper and into the world. Ship.

What keeps most of us from doing this more often is fear. It’s fear of what people will think if it doesn’t work, what your boss will think if you don’t hit the goal, how the organization or your team or the world will judge you.

But you can’t succeed unless you try. You can’t be a success unless you do. And the more you do, the more you will fail.

But failure is the path to success. It’s literally the only way to get there. Dream, launch, fail, learn, try again, maybe fail again, get back up, ship again, succeed.

Maybe not always exactly in that order. Sometimes you succeed faster, sometimes not.

But Seth’s point is fundamental, and right on the money. Keep thinking, keep brainstorming. But more importantly, keep launching.