Take the leap. It’s the only way you’ll really know!
Are you an overthinker like me? Ever since I was a kid, I loved to debate with myself – should I do this or that? What’s the “right” choice? Is this going to work?
As a teenager, I’d make pros & cons lists in my spiral notebook. As a young consultant, I’d make elaborate cost/benefit spreadsheets in Excel. Learning Six Sigma further cemented my natural inclination to Measure and Analyze for months before actually implementing anything. Evaluate the options, run the numbers, get some second opinions, make a PowerPoint on the recommendation, create a buttoned-up plan of action.
I finally learned the brutal truth: you can’t create value by agonizing over your next move. You can’t learn much new about the world by pondering only what you already know.
Nothing wrong with a bit of thinking and planning. But is it getting you stuck? Is your deliberation and ever-more detailed analysis just covering up your fear of what will actually happen if you make a move?
Here’s an alternative: Just Do It (thanks, Nike!). Until you run the experiment, you’ll never know how it’s actually going to turn out. So pick a course of action based on your best guess about what you think is going to happen, and take the first step.
I was reminded of this lesson the other week. Poised nervously on my skis at the top of The King, a gnarly summit at Crystal Mountain, the snow looked cut up, chunky, and dauntingly challenging. But what was I going to do - sit around all day taking snow samples, asking other skiers, making a pros and cons list of whether to ski down or not? The only way to know how the snow actually felt was to take the leap of faith, and make the first turn. Good news for me, the snow was actually incredible that day. Sometimes our brains deceive us in a way our bodies can’t.
According to Mike Rother, “An experiment is taking a step with the intent of learning something…you take one step, encounter new information, evaluate it, maybe revise your understanding based on what you learned, and then plan the next step accordingly.”[1] Ah, how much simpler is that than making the entire detailed plan up front, at the point in time when you know the least??
What’s the decision or internal debate that’s got YOU ruminating at night? (No really, pick something). Then, try this:
Consider the outcome you’re after (e.g. saving time so you can increase production)
Consider what you already know about how this thing works. Then ask, what DON’T you know? What would you need to find out in order to reach the outcome you’re after? (e.g. what temperature bakes these cookies the fastest without burning them?)
What is an experiment you could run to gain more information about that thing you don’t know? (e.g. try turning the temperature up by 25 degrees, see what happens to the texture, color, and cook time)
Shoot me an email and let me know what you learned!
Then stay tuned for more on how to design a GOOD experiment.