There’s a classic riddle that I use in my leadership workshops that goes like this:
There are five frogs on a log.
One decides to jump into the pond.
How many are left on the log?
The answer: Still five.
Why?
Because he decided to jump in…but he didn’t actually do it!
And it’s the doing that counts.
When I was ten years old, my family went to a local pool club that had a high diving board. All the other kids were having so much fun scampering up that tall ladder and jumping into the water that, after much deliberation, I hesitantly decided to give it a try too, even though I had a debilitating fear of heights (which went along with my debilitating fear of all the other kids).
Gingerly climbing the ladder, I inched my way out to the edge of the diving board…only to look down and see that it was even more terrifying than I was expecting it to be!
So I quickly changed my mind and turned around with the intent of going back down the ladder. However, a line of about five other kids had already climbed up the ladder and were impatiently waiting their turn. “Come on…let’s go already!!!” they were all screaming at me. So, completely embarrassed, and with, really, no other choice, I turned back around again, ran the length of the board, and dove in—headfirst!
What do you think I did the rest of that afternoon? Yup. I kept on climbing that ladder and diving back in, again and again, until the sun went down and it was time to go home.
This, again, reminds me of Seth Godin’s simple-yet-powerful quote: “You don’t need more time. You just need to decide.” And after deciding, we need to act. Or, in Godin lingo, we need to “ship.”
So often we are racked with indecision and/or paralyzed by fear that we put off making any decision—until the window of opportunity closes, and the decision is made for us.
In fact, if you think about it, not making a decision is a decision you’ve made.
Think about how many potentially positive, life-enhancing decisions might you have missed out on simply due to procrastination? We often come up with excuse after excuse about why something can’t be done, but as futurist Joel Barker wrote in his amazing book, Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future—and as I experienced on that high diving board all those year ago—“Those who say ‘it can’t be done’ need to get out of the way of those who are doing it.”
The bottom line is that no one wants to hear excuses; they only want to see results.
So, unlike that hesitant frog on the log, I encourage you to take that leap. There’s a good chance that if you do, you’ll be very glad that you did.
In Review
The Big Lesson: When you reflect back on the times that you took a leap and landed successfully, it gives you the courage and confidence necessary to take on the next challenge.
The Big Question: What are some examples of times that you took a calculated risk, something that was a “big leap” for you, and what did you learn about yourself from that experience? And, what are some examples of times when you didn’t take the leap, but looking back on it, you wish that you had? What held you back? With these examples in mind, what is the next big leap that you are going to take?
Your Big Insight:
Your Big Action: