Don’t Let the Bozos Talk Sense into You
Guy Kawasaki discussed it in his keynote at this year’s NTEN conference, and someone else mentioned it to me recently: this idea that you can’t let “bozos” or naysayers get you down.It got me thinking.
I hate that statement.It’s the worst type of platitude – a dangerous one. It ignores one of the most difficult parts of trying to start something new: trying to balance your own vision and hope against possible limitations and doubt. You spend a lot of time hoping. It feels like such a good idea! Maybe in just another few months everyone will catch on and the whole thing will take off! But you can’t help but doubt as well: maybe I’m foolishly wasting my time and money trying to start something impossible.
The outside experts and the bozos and your friends and the naysayers – who are all in real life virtually indistinguishable, of course – have an important role in this. They balance your own perspective, which is by definition too close and too biased to be reliable. If everyone seems like a bozo and no one gets it, that’s not a good sign. Maybe it’s not such a good idea. Maybe you’re the bozo.
Don’t get me wrong. Some people are naysayers, and some advice is better ignored. Drowning in doubt obviously won’t get you very far. But disagreeing with your vision doesn’t make someone a bozo, and considering outside opinions is the only way to separate a good idea from a waste of your energy.
I hate that statement.It’s the worst type of platitude – a dangerous one. It ignores one of the most difficult parts of trying to start something new: trying to balance your own vision and hope against possible limitations and doubt. You spend a lot of time hoping. It feels like such a good idea! Maybe in just another few months everyone will catch on and the whole thing will take off! But you can’t help but doubt as well: maybe I’m foolishly wasting my time and money trying to start something impossible.
The outside experts and the bozos and your friends and the naysayers – who are all in real life virtually indistinguishable, of course – have an important role in this. They balance your own perspective, which is by definition too close and too biased to be reliable. If everyone seems like a bozo and no one gets it, that’s not a good sign. Maybe it’s not such a good idea. Maybe you’re the bozo.
Don’t get me wrong. Some people are naysayers, and some advice is better ignored. Drowning in doubt obviously won’t get you very far. But disagreeing with your vision doesn’t make someone a bozo, and considering outside opinions is the only way to separate a good idea from a waste of your energy.
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1 Comments:
Hi,
Sounds recognizable :). I'm working on a decentralized charity website called Helpalot. Using the strength of sites like Wikipedia, Digg and MySpace, I want to give a platform for every charity in the world. Make them all findable, make more people active with charities, increase trust in charities, and much more.
So it's an ambitious project. I have no 'Bozos' who say that it's a bad idea, but I have the "that's rather hard are you aware of that?" or the "How are you ever going to do that" responds now and then. Thankfully I also have the "That's a great project" and the "How can I help" responds.
You need a positive attitude if you want to start something new. If you don't believe it can work, nobody will. And indeed, if nobody thinks it will work, you probably shouldn't.
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