The Gifts Of Imperfection

The Gifts Of Imperfection shows you how to embrace your inner flaws to accept who you are, instead of constantly chasing the image of who you’re trying to be, because other people expect you to act in certain ways.

“My gut tells me to pitch my idea at this startup event, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.”

What would you tell your friend if she said this? Try to find reasons why this could actually be a bad idea. Hm…well…your presentation could suck and impress no one, of course. Or the tech breaks down and you look like an idiot in front of the crowd. Or, maybe you’ll choke up and not be able to deliver the pitch.

Okay, those things all suck, but…aren’t they all just based on fear? What’s the potential, rational upside of going there? For one, if people like your pitch, you’ll have your first potential customers, a crowd to get feedback from, and if there’s a prize, maybe even some money to get going. Plus, you’ll learn a lot from preparing a presentation and delivering it.

So really, there are no rational downsides to this. Just irrational ones. The only thing you can lose is your ego, and that’s not a bad thing. Since your friend’s gut told her to do it, her gut gave her the best, rational answer.

Then how come it initially felt like her gut and her brain were battling for opposing sides? That’s simply because we can’t comprehend the speed of our gut. You have an idea, and then your brain goes into rapid-fire mode, jumping through all relevant memories and experiences, to then conclude with a certain feeling, which it shoots into your gut.

Gut decisions are nothing more than a way of quickly reasoning in the face of uncertainty, so you can take action when risks are present.

Just like a pro tennis player doesn’t calculate where the ball will land, but instinctively jumps to a side without being sure, you should learn to trust your gut to decide and act faster.

What do you do when you compare yourself with your neighbor, friend, or a co-worker? Do you think of ways how you could beat them in business? Run faster? Look cooler? You can admit it, we all do this sometimes. Ironically, while we think competing drives us forward and gets us to stand out from the crowd, it actually achieves the opposite. The more you try to mirror your competitors to reach their level, the more boring you’ll get, which actually makes you less likely to win. For example, if you wanted to start a book summary site, and decided to make it…