Failure to Apply

I've met and worked with thousands of people throughout my career. I've had many conversations about goals and future plans within the organization as well as life after. 

I've found many people have big plans for the future, but often settle for less than what they really want. Goals tend to be one step below achieving greatness. While I agree not everyone can be great, few reach the top 5% of society, many people underestimate their own abilities. 

I’ve learned people are their own biggest reason for not achieving their goals. As we look at the world around us, we tend to compare ourselves to all the greats. The people who have achieved the loftiest of goals and successfully pursued their dreams. We read about and see countless examples of people living lives we aspire to. The problem with this comparison, is we aren’t those people.

We don’t often see the hard work it takes to get to the highest places. We underestimate the amount of luck and undervalue the risks taken by people we think have it all. The truth is, we aren’t likely to achieve all the same things others have. Those people we watch from a distance aren’t the rule, they’re the exception. The biggest difference between most of us and them however, is they took risks. They put themselves out there while we sit safely behind our walls.

Many people will not graduate from college for one reason only; they won’t submit an application. I believe most people tend to take themselves out of the competition before they even enter it. We have a tendency to self-disqualification, a defeatist attitude that holds us back. We didn’t apply to Yale, Princeton, MIT, because we “knew we wouldn’t get in.” We remove the possibility of reward to spare ourselves the risk of failure.

While there are certainly things we don’t qualify for, the reality is only the bravest (or most narccississtic) among us will find out the truth. We will never get accepted if we don't put in the work and apply. Sometimes, applying is all it takes because everyone else is thinking the same way and didn't. Simply putting in the application, asking for that job, stepping into the ring is the most important step. The first step starts us down the path to accomplishing our goals.