In a recent conversation with a marketing guru, I learned that the secret to writing good ad copy is to imagine what people are googling in the middle of the night. Have you ever done that? What have you stayed up late googling? What answers have evaded you in the middle of the night?
I’d imagine if you are an entrepreneur you have been up late at night googling something about success, where to find it, or how to get it. Maybe you googled something like “the formula for success”. If you did, you would have found 761,000 results for your search query. The problem with most searchers is that people will read all of the 761,000 articles looking for the secret that they feel is evading them. They are looking for a shortcut and do not realize that the answer is quite simple and has been sitting right in front of their faces.
The answer? The answer is always...action. Action is always the answer.
Henry Ford understood this. He once said, “Many people miss opportunity because it comes disguised in overalls.” Overalls represent work. Taking action means removing all emotion and giving you the best chance to learn and master your craft. 90% of the people who fail are perfectionists who felt like they had to have all the answers before they took action. They didn’t understand that the only way to learn is to fail and make mistakes.
Dave Grohl, the former Nirvana drummer and lead singer of the Foo Fighters understands this principle. In a recent interview, Dave voiced his frustration about our microwave culture. His specific critique was towards the effect of American Idol on young musicians.
He said,”When I think about kids watching a TV show like American Idol or The Voice, then they think, ‘Oh, OK, that’s how you become a musician, you stand in line for eight hours with 800 people at a convention center and… then you sing your heart out for someone and then they tell you it’s not good enough.’ Can you imagine?” he implores. “It’s destroying the next generation of musicians! Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy an old drum set and get in their garage and just suck. And get their friends to come in and they’ll suck, too. And then they’ll start playing and they’ll have the best time they’ve ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they’ll become Nirvana. Because that’s exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some old instruments and they got together and started playing some noise, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don’t need a computer or the internet or The Voice or American Idol.”
The process of taking the time to take action and master your craft is always the answer.
If you are in love with your dream but have not learned the satisfaction of failing, overcoming, and mastering, then you have not really taken action. It is time to move. It is time to take action. Go out and suck. Go out and figure things out, make some mistakes, and master your craft. You cannot break this opportunity. People need your products and services.
The difference between dreamers and doers is massive action; That is what separates successful people from failures. How do you know when you have really failed? The only way to fail is to stop taking action. So today, do something different; stop googling, turn off the computer, take action, and finally win.
