How many times should you start a business?
My Taekwondo teacher gives me a hard time if I miss a class.
Basically, you better have a good reason for not being there. He doesn’t care if you had a headache, or a social function to be at. You miss Taekwondo, and it is entirely your responsibility. And that’s it.
The very first time anyone turns up to the class they get an introductory lesson. This means standing and listening to him talk about the discipline, and then attempting to kick as high as you possibly can. My teacher is about seven foot tall, and he holds the kick pad out at arm’s length, so reaching it with your leg is pretty difficult. Besides, you’re new to the whole thing, so you are no way near supple enough to make it. It is not pretty, you spend those few minutes looking stupid.
This is, of course, your first test, because if you can stand looking really useless and still turn up to the next class then you are showing an inkling of committment.
In this first class he also shares his philosophy regarding persistence. He asks how many times we should try something before giving up. And he asks for a number.
I remember my response. There were some students behind me at the time so I was fairly self-cosncious. But I threw in ‘twenty times’, thinking this sounded a large enough number to sound serious.
‘A hundred times’, replied my teacher.
He runs two classes a week. He makes you pay for a year upfront. He does this so that every new student is committed to 100 lessons before they consider giving up.
It’s an interesting approach.
How Many Times Should You Try In Business?
The marines state that you have to practise a new hand-to-hand combat technique 3000 times before it becomes instinctive. When I say instinctive I mean doing something perfectly and without thinking.
When you start a business, you have the option of giving up every day. You can be ‘absent’ literally, by not doing anything, or you can be ‘absent’ by just going through the motions.
My Taekwondo teacher insists that we have no right to give up on anything unless we can say we have tried it a hundred times.
What does this mean for your home business? If you make ten sales calls today, and one hundred tomorrow, which is going to be your best business day?
When is it right to quit email marketing? When you have written five emails, or one hundred?
How many times are you just going to think about it?
If you ask my teacher how to become a black belt, he’ll say…
A black belt is just a white belt who never gave up.
How many times should you ‘try’ and start a business before you give up? Once, or one hundred times?
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