“What if?” is the Mantra of People Who Were Never Going to do Anything Anyway
Matty Kerr is co-creator with John Brancaccio of The Working Experience. He is also a filmmaker and published author. Listen to our podcast on iTunes and Spotify and visit our website: theworkingexperience.com for videos, merchandise and more. You can also find us on Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, and Twitter.
“Plan for the worst, hope for the best.” That kind of thinking is for the weak. You don’t “hope for the best”; you make the best happen. How can you hope to accomplish anything when you are always planning for the worst thing to happen? How would anyone ever take a risk and invent something or open a business?
NO ONE WOULD!!!
“What if we don’t meet the deadline?”
“What if the bank doesn’t approve my loan application?”
“What if the business fails?”
WELL THEN THE WHOLE F*CKING WORLD IS GOING TO END!
But it isn’t.
“What if…..?” is the mantra of the people who never wanted to do anything anyway.
I’ve been in meetings where the chorus of “What if”s is endless. It almost seems like a competition. “I’ll see your ‘what if’ and raise you a ‘what if’ of my own. And then the meeting grinds and nothing is resolved.
You can ‘what if’ yourself out of anything. There will always be unforeseen issues, that’s why it’s called risk. If everything were all safely laid out and there was no chance of anything not going according to plan, what would be the point of being brave?
Risk v. Reward. Well, there is no reward without risk. And if there is no risk, the reward isn’t worth it.
While filming The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola was sitting in the stall of the bathroom when two crew guys came in. He overheard them talking about him, saying what an idiot he was and that he had no idea what he was doing.
At one point, there was a person following him around set because Coppola was about to be fired and this guy was going to take over. Same thing with Al Pacino.
The studio hadn’t wanted Pacino or Brando; that was all Coppola.
He won FIVE ACADEMY AWARDS for the Godfather.
So much for what other people know.
“What if I embarrass myself?”
I embarrass myself on a daily basis. I say stupid things, drop the ball, look like an idiot.If you do it long enough, you get kind of immune to it.
And I’ll let you in on a secret: NO ONE IS PAYING ATTENTION TO YOU! NO ONE WILL REMEMBER! NO ONE CARES!
They are all too wrapped up in their own fear and anxieties to worry about you.
So forget the “What ifs” Those little gremlins are lying.
