Before you can be really good at something, you have to be bad at it first. We’ve all heard that even the best start off as amateurs. So, before you can optimize to win and really begin to see success, you have to optimize to learn.
I like to think of this as starting off as a satisficer, and just getting a good enough outcome, and then evolving into a maximizer, where getting the best outcome is the goal, if not the expectation.
Research has shown that satisficers are typically happier, but that maximizers get better outcomes. Being that happiness is a key factor in motivation, it’s important to start at one end of the spectrum to simply keep going and then get focused on achievements. Learn more about satisficing vs maximizing here.
Using the satisficer vs maximizer framework, I believe starting by optimizing for learning and traction then optimizing for outcomes and growth is an unparalleled way of making progress in a steady, positive direction that will keep you motivated and energized as you pick up new skills.
A learning mindset
When starting down a path, learners optimize for traction. In the early stages, it’s important to get grounded and understand the operating environment, including its dynamics, general principles, and expectations. Doing this requires honesty and prioritization.
A good metaphor for this is education. Remember elementary school? Not only were you learning the fundamentals, but you were learning how to interact with others, be a good student, be punctual to class; basically, all the things that will helped you graduate and enter the real world with some basic skills.
As an example, take my personal journey into real estate investing. Right now, I have four properties. Admittedly, I’m nowhere close to a tycoon, but I’m now making confident decisions with every new acquisition. Yet, it didn’t start this way.
At first, I had to focus on the how, what I wanted to achieve, and who I’d work with. And frankly, I had no clue. I did know that I didn’t want to get paralyzed, and I wanted immediate traction. So, I just started by learning from bigger pockets podcasts and developed a bias towards action. This meant, whatever I learned, I’d implement. Even it felt uncomfortable, I felt like I was becoming a real estate investor.
As I focused on traction, I learned how to assess properties, and who to begin networking with. I kept my bias towards action and coupled it with an artificial deadline, alongside some contrived milestones. The function of the deadline was simple-it acted like a forcing function. With the two strategies at hand, I could feel the momentum picking up, and after just 6 months of learning, acting, and prioritizing, I purchased my first property.
There are a lot of circumstantial factors that worked in my favor (the biggest one being that I had capital), but, I would say that deploying an action-oriented mindset and setting an artificial, yet realistic timeline, set me to get the traction I needed to feel like I was getting somewhere. As a by-product of following these principles, I felt like a real real estate investor, helping me overcome imposter syndrome, and get in the game.
One final attitude I had through this journey was not to be afraid of failure or imperfection. So many times, I felt I’d get discouraged because I was much further away from my goal than I expected. Keeping this in mind kept me encouraged and focused on my goal of learning, rather than a premature goal of truly winning.
To recap, when you’re starting on the path towards excellence, follow the time tested principles of:
Having a bias towards action, after learning the fundamentals
Setting a deadline and a meaningful milestone to see a tangible product of action
Embrace failure as part of the process and acknowledge that perfection is the enemy, for now
Getting to growth
As you get traction and begin to see tangible progress, the next stage is to make it a habit. But beyond that, it’s about getting to growth, which is what you likely we’ve been waiting for.
There is a ton of literature on growth as a mindset, which has been popularized by Carol Dweck. However, in the context of specific subjects, growth means an entirely different thing. It’s more like sharpening the skills you learned while getting traction to amplify results.
At this stage, it should be about optimizing successful actions and remaining persistent.
Going back to my own real estate example, once I got my first property under my belt, I started to ask myself some questions, such as:
How can I be more efficient?
What types of systems can I set up?
How can I assemble a better team?
These questions were only accessible and intelligently answered after I had traction.
Why? Because without paying close attention to my failures and successes, I wouldn’t know what I want to optimize of becoming more efficient in. This is a big reason why traction needs to precede growth. Without it, growth would happen indiscriminately.
As I got into the pattern of optimization, I started to be more efficient and about analyzing deals, developing systems that worked for me, and became more critical when choosing who to work with.
Getting into the growth phase of my own evolution into real estate helped me focus on becoming an expert. Which meant to be that I needed to have higher standards and trust my own judgment when making decisions.
As I became more entrenched, I realized the growth stage never ends, it just continues infinitely as a form of refinement.
I’ve applied this mindset of starting by focusing on getting traction to focusing on becoming an expert to a whole host of endeavors and seems to work most of the time.
Yet, with the two general principles in mind, I feel confident that I can make predictable, steady progress without losing motivation.
So - start small and get grounded THEN optimize for the terrain after you’ve learned how to navigate it.
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