Tweet

Doing Poorly Until You Learn To Do Better

Written by: Zig Ziglar

Article Overview: Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. When I was a youngster I got into a number of fist fights on the school grounds. Now fighting was obviously frowned on by all teachers, but in those days kids settled differences between themselves and there was never any thought--regardless of the outcome of the tussle, which in most cases lasted just two or three blows--of getting a knife or a baseball bat, certainly not a gun, to get even with the victor. No, once the scuffle ended it was all over.

Doing Poorly Until You Learn To Do Better

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. When I was a youngster I got into a number of fist fights on the school grounds. Now fighting was obviously frowned on by all teachers, but in those days kids settled differences between themselves and there was never any thought--regardless of the outcome of the tussle, which in most cases lasted just two or three blows--of getting a knife or a baseball bat, certainly not a gun, to get even with the victor. No, once the scuffle ended it was all over.

I had many such encounters and actually over a period of time I became quite effective as a "playground gladiator." Then, when I was in the 7th grade I decided to go out for the boxing team. I was confident I would be successful in that arena as well. At that point I weighed the tremendous total of 83 pounds, and on the boxing team they tried to match us up with people of equal size. One of my classmates was Joe Stringer, who weighed 63 pounds. Truthfully, I felt kind of sorry for him because there I was, a big bruiser outweighing him 20 pounds. When they laced on the gloves I knew I'd have to be careful not to hurt him.

At the sound of the bell, within three seconds Joe's left had landed squarely on the end of my nose. Apparently he thought I had a poor memory because about three seconds later he landed another. Throughout the round he landed again and again and again. Not only was it hurting physically, it was also terribly embarrassing. There this skinny kid was taking me to the cleaners!

The problem was very simple. Although he was much smaller, he had been on the boxing team for two years and had actually been the 60-pound state champion. It was really a slaughter, if you wanted to put it that way. The good news is after a couple days of this treatment, Coach Perminter took mercy on me, took me aside, and started teaching me some of the finer points of self-defense and making certain that when I threw my right, my left hand would come up to protect my chin. He taught me how to duck my shoulder so if that side was exposed, Joe's blows would glance of the shoulder and not land squarely on my nose. After about a week of instruction, I started to become the hit-or instead of the hit-ee--and that was a lot more fun. Within two weeks, because of my physical size, we were exchanging blows equally, and in another couple weeks I was dominating because I had learned. I had been embarrassed in the process, but I'm glad the coach took pity on me and I was willing to do something poorly--which I initially did--because it was the only way I was going to get better and better.

The reality is, regardless of whatever it is you do, you're not going to automatically become really good at everything. There is a process. But when we understand the philosophy that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly--until you can learn to do it well--your progress in life is almost guaranteed. Think about it.

Incidentally, if you have a story about how you learned the lesson of "anything worth doing poorly. . . " drop me a note and share it with me. It just might be published in the newsletter! If we get enough stories, who knows--maybe I'll even make a book of them! Needless to say, you'll be given credit as an author, and when the book is published you'll get your own copy. I would personally appreciate it and I'm confident many readers will also be grateful.

Related Articles
  SMEs - African confusion with entrepreneurship
  Money Making Strategy: Make It Better!
  Coaching Business Tip: Get Past Perfectionism
  Relationships Matter – A Lot
  How to Use 360 Assessment Tools

Article Tags: baseball bat, big bruiser, boxing team, classmates, couple days, fist fights, gladiator, gloves, left hand, period of time, playground, poor memory, self defense, skinny kid, slaughter, sound of the bell, state champion, stringer, tussle, youngster



Related Forum Posts
Lisa Shepherd Story - Great story! I love the Earn - Learn - Equity - it's very relavent for new entrepreneurs.
Hello from Newbie - Hi everyone: I am newbie and a freelance bookkeeping & accounting entrepreneur. Hope I enjoy my time here. Will Learn from you and share my thoughts and ideas with you.
Re: Do you have to have your own business in order to - Good for you, and remember that education is never wasted. So the more you learn the better off you will be and the less chance you will have of being ripped off by anyone. Learn all you can about patenting and marketing your product and you will be sure to succeed. MichelleJ
Re: You don't need a degree to be an Entrepreneur - True true, you don't ned to have a degree to be an entrepreneur. However, a degree nowadays is somewhat necessary to get employed or hired in top companies. Yes, Bill Gates dodn't graduate from college, but this doesn't necessarily mean that you have to stop learning. If you want to be an entrepreneur, a very successful one, you should try to learn something new everyday. Learn from your mistakes and experiences.
Re: Hello from Newbie - [quote="PeterP":357sbd22]Hi everyone: I am newbie and a freelance bookkeeping & accounting entrepreneur. Hope I enjoy my time here. Will Learn from you and share my thoughts and ideas with you.[/quote:357sbd22] Hi Peter You will definitely enjoy your time here, this is one of the best entrepreneurship fora on the net if not the best.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Are You Remarkable Enough?

BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM

Effective Leadership

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.