Same preparation…different result

Sometimes even when you aim at the same spot you end up hitting somewhere different. That’s how I felt when I spent an hour in beginners archery, but it’s also what can happen in our careers.

For each attempt, I stood in the same spot. I made sure my feet were pointed the same way. I grabbed the bow the same way, pulled back the same amount, and definitely aimed at the same bull’s-eye. Yet somehow the trajectory of the arrow still felt random. Many of my arrows hit the target, a few flew past it entirely, and one even got stuck in the dirt, just short of the hay bale.

I could’ve gotten frustrated or embarrassed, but everyone knew I was a beginner, so it didn’t matter. That’s what gets us in trouble sometimes at work, we don’t want anyone to know that we are the expert.

We teach our children to have a Growth Mindset but the we forget that we are always still learning too. We want people to see us as confident, competent, and capable but often we are filled with Imposter Syndrome. We want to simply aim at the target and hit it, but instead we miss the mark and have to listen to feedback.

Will you join me in normalizing admitting to not knowing everything? Asking the silly question? Not being afraid to try something and fail?