Six Figures Blog

The article, “How Not Achieving Something Is the Key to Achieving It” by Peter Bregman recently published by HBR offers a terrific read. It provides a good dose of inspiration for us all as the year winds down and we focus our thoughts on our goals for 2010.

The article highlights a truth that many of us perhaps have not contemplated, that “most of our jobs hinge on repetition. That’s how we become good at anything. The problem is we give up too soon because anything we do repetitively becomes boring.”

Peter’s story reveals the learning’s that come from those all too familiar situations in life where we try to make things happen yet encounter ongoing set backs, with most of us giving up fairly early on in the piece. While only a few of us will persevere long enough to see any results. This led to him to conclude “that anyone can do anything. As long as three conditions exist”

• You want to achieve it
• You believe you can achieve it
• You enjoy trying to achieve it

What is most interesting is that he identifies points one and two are the easy parts – it is point three where things seem to fall over. Everything rests on point three, the trying to achieve it. The enjoyment factor is included as given how much time, effort and discipline is required to be great at something, the ‘enjoy trying’ part becomes pretty important. Without it you will not last the distance.

As the article title reads “trying to achieve something is very different than achieving it. It’s the opposite actually. It’s not achieving it.” Examples are given to demonstrate this point, such that “if you want to be a great marketer, you need to spend years being a clumsy one.” Hence the need to enjoy trying as it is going to be tough. The reality is that nothing worth achieving is easy, and to get there “enjoy trying to achieve it”. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to read this thought provoking and inspiring article “How Not Achieving Something Is the Key to Achieving It”