Hey readers,

Trying a new approach to the blog this week, if you like it I’ll do more of them!

We’re breaking down human behavior based on principles from books and authors that have already been reviewed here. We’ll answer questions about people’s behavior in general.

Have you ever wondered why people don’t start the things they say they want to start?

We all know someone who wants to start a business or get in shape or learn an instrument. What holds them back?

In thinking this through it seems like there are two central issues, though there could be more. First is fear, second is misunderstanding success in your chosen area as being driven by talent rather than skill.

Fear is real. Fear is success enemy number one.

The Magic of Thinking Big starts chapter three with those twin sentences. But how to overcome fear? That is shared there too. 

Action cures fear. -pg 110

You can always take a positive action that will diminish your fear. 

Afraid of that phone call? Make it, and the fear is gone.

Seems like a pat answer, but its power is in the simplicity. Just do it. 

A great way to push yourself to action is through accountability. I remember making plans to start this YouTube/blog series at the beginning of 2016, yet I was fearful because I didn’t know how to edit video. I missed the first weeks of January and decided I couldn’t back out if I told my friend Russ I would start in February. 

This series launched the first week of February. 

The second thing is a misunderstanding of how people who are successful in your chosen field got to where they are. 

Seth Godin wrote on Friday, Sept 23, on his blog “If even one person is able to learn it, if even one person is able to use effort and training to get good at something, it’s a skill.”

Jeff Olson calls the skills mindset the Slight Edge philosophy. The idea that your habits have a cumulative effect either positively or negatively on your life.

How does this relate to people not starting the things they want to start?

People who have the talent mindset don’t realize they can improve slowly but surely in their chosen endeavor. They also tend to compare their beginner skill set with world class skills. For reference, Malcolm Gladwell says in his book, Outliers, that world class abilities are developed over 10,000 hours before mastery can occur. 

We’ve all thought “I’ll never be like that.” But we have to remember that there may be thousands of hours of practice between our point A and our hero’s point B.

My friend Carlos, who runs the YouTube channel ProyectoGTG, gave me this advice before I started the series. He said its more important to just get started than than to be good when you get started. I agree, just start, and you can develop your skills along the way just like everyone else.

Hopefully this gives some insight into your interactions with others! Let me know if you like this format, I would like to bring helpful content on the weeks I don’t have a chance to read an entire new book. If you’ve got a better format idea or a question about “Why do people do that” Let me know! 🙂

Until next week,

Keep reading friends!

Follow along on twitter, https://www.twitter.com/jondelange