7 Mistakes Entrepreneurs MUST Avoid
The Amplified Impact Podcast
November 19th, 2023
In today’s episode, I’m unpacking misconceptions we often mix up.
From worrying and planning to action and progress, and even understanding the difference between hearing and listening.
Plus, a crucial distinction between net worth and self-worth.
These misconceptions are common on the entrepreneurial path. Avoid these pitfalls and stay focused on real progress.
TWEETABLE QUOTE:
“Don’t mistake worrying for planning, planning for action, action for progress, hearing for listening, criticism for feedback, and net worth for self worth.”
– Anthony Vicino
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Episode Transcript:
Anthony Vicino:
Hey, what’s up, guys and gals? So the other day, I tweeted this tweet. I tweeted this tweet. I wrote this thing. Anyways, it says, don’t mistake worrying for planning, planning for action, action for progress, hearing for listening, criticism for feedback, and net worth for self worth. And I wanted to unpack these a little bit with you guys here today. So number one is worrying. This idea of confusing worrying with planning. One of my favorite quotes of all time was, I can’t remember who wrote, I think her name was Mary, but then it was taken by Boz Lerman and turned into a song called, like, the Sunscreen Song, or, like, don’t forget your sunscreen.
Anthony Vicino:
And then I remember listening to the song back in 2000, 2001 when it first came out. And I was a very formative time in my life as, like, a sophomore and a junior in high school. And there was so many little bits of wisdom in there that have stuck with me throughout the years. But this is one of those. This is one of those tidbits that’s, like, played a very massive role in my life. It says this. It says, don’t worry about the future or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 04:00 p.m.
Anthony Vicino:
On some idle Tuesday. And I think this is completely true. This has been true in my life. I think about my business career. I think about my personal life, like my fiance dumping me that came out of left field on a random Tuesday, the SWAT team on my very first property calling me at 02:00 a.m. On the Thursday after I closed. Right? These things come out of nowhere, and you can’t plan for them. And you can plan for them, but that’s not really the goal.
Anthony Vicino:
The goal is to worry less about what’s going to happen or all the potential things that could go wrong. And just try to figure out what would you do in these scenarios, like, 80% of the scenarios, and then just accept that you’ve prepared as much as you can. Worrying more isn’t going to do anything about it. And it’s likely that the thing that’s going to throw you off your track anyway is going to be something you couldn’t have predicted anyway. So you’re probably worrying about the wrong thing. Number two is planning. Planning. People confuse planning for action all the time.
Anthony Vicino:
I think about this Eisenhower quote, which is that plans are useless, but planning is essential. And for me, the true value of a plan is not in its ability to accurately predict what’s actually going to happen. The value is in its ability to make you aware of potential options so that when something invariably does go off the rails, you’re not going to be taken by surprise. You’ve already contemplated it, you’ve already have some options. And I think that’s the key, is just to make sure that you’ve considered the 80% of options that are available to you and then move forward with as much confidence and gusto as possible. Realizing that something is probably going to sideswipe you, but that you’ve thought through as much as you can, you’ve prepared as well as you can, and that you’re focused more on being resourceful than having resources. And when we get locked into just trying to plan everything to the Nth degree, trying to plan it to perfection, we’re trying to create this environment where we have infinite resources to solve the thing and we’ve thought it all through, when in reality that’s just going to weigh you down and it’s an impossible thing to even strive for. What’s easier and more attainable for all of us is just to become resourceful, to become the kind of resilient person who can problem solve in a moment of crisis, maintain poise, and continue moving towards your goal.
Anthony Vicino:
That’s what you’re trying to achieve, not trying to lay out the perfect roadmap. Because if you do that, then you will confuse planning with actually taking action. The planning is not moving you towards the goal. So the sooner that you can start taking action, the better. But we need to be aware of number three on this list, which is that we can’t confuse action for progress. Okay, now here’s the thing. The universe responds to action, not intentions. And you are a catalyst for changing reality itself.
Anthony Vicino:
I think that’s one of the coolest concepts, to realize that you are a catalyst for changing reality itself, but only if you do something. You can’t get stuck in that planning phase, right? So we got to take action. But the problem is where you are standing right now on the road. You don’t necessarily know what the right action is. Right. I think about this Peter Drucker quote a lot, which is that there is no greater waste than to do with excellence. That which shouldn’t be done at all. But how do you know what are the things that are worth doing when you haven’t done it before? When you haven’t been to the place when you haven’t been to the destination, right? That’s the hardest part.
Anthony Vicino:
Now there’s two solutions. One is to surround yourself with people who have done the thing to get a coach, get a mentor, get a perspective. Somebody who can give you perspective, can help you understand what are the roadblocks likely to be in front of you? What is the right action? That’s one step. The other step, though, is to recognize the only way you’re going to get clarity about what the right actions are is to take those wrong actions, to be willing to take those wrong actions, and then pivot and adjust. And that’s very key, because without the pivoting, without the adjusting, you’re just taking mindless action. And you must never confuse mindless action with progress because they are completely different things. All right, the next one on this list is not related to worrying, planning, action, or anything like that. People confuse hearing for listening.
Anthony Vicino:
So I find hearing to be a very interesting concept because you can’t turn your ears off. It’s one of the senses that is going to be running for the entirety of your life. You can’t just turn your ears off any given moment. Right now, there’s a bunch of sounds coming in from my office, out my window, right? But I’m not listening to them because listening is an active process. It requires intention. And what I find is when you’re with people, you need to transition and really understand that you can’t be passive in hearing. You must be active in listening. Hearing is a purely physical act.
Anthony Vicino:
It’s going to occur one way or the other. Listening requires your mind. It requires that intention. And the people who can do that, that can stay focused, that can direct their attention towards the object in which they’re trying to understand. They are the ones that garner the most understanding of that thing. All right, next on the list. Sorry, kind of brain fart there. We must never confuse criticism for feedback.
Anthony Vicino:
I think this is an easy one to default to criticism. Right. Criticism is easy to give because you’re not trying to help, you’re just focusing on the problem. Criticism only cares about the problem, whereas feedback only cares about the growth that’s required to attain the solution. And that one’s much harder to give. It’s much easier to sit and bitch and moan and complain about what’s wrong. It’s easier to point that out. It’s much harder to give feedback because that requires reflection.
Anthony Vicino:
It requires trying to triangulate and create a hypothesis for what went wrong, and then to try to deliver that in a meaningful way that maybe the other person can take and to move forward with. So often we just default to criticism, and sometimes we think we’re giving feedback. But if it’s not whatever we’re giving, if it’s not focused on helping the person grow so that they can attain the solution to the problem, if it’s just pointing out the problem or rehashing the problem, that’s not feedback. And this is really important when it comes to your employees, the people around you on your team, is that you’re not criticizing the work, you’re giving feedback. And that feedback is always needs to be solution oriented, not problem oriented. All right, the last one that I want to talk about with you guys Is that you must never confuse your net worth with your self worth. And this is a problem that I see very frequently. It’s one that I fall into all the time.
Anthony Vicino:
Net worth is nothing more than the culmination of your financial endeavors. That’s it. Self worth is the culmination of the opinion you have of yourself, and they have nothing to do with one another. One is tied to extrinsic results. The other is an intrinsic opinion that you have of yourself, a self respect. But the problem is, because net worth tends to be easier to measure and therefore manage. It’s the one we focus on. It’s the one that we can signal to people with the car that we drive, with the fancy watch, and all these other things.
Anthony Vicino:
It’s very, very hard to signal to somebody that you have high self worth. Right. And if you’re struggling with self worth, then often what we try to do is use other people’s opinions of us as a proxy to say, oh, I might not think very much of me, but the world does. And this is where status signaling starts to come in as a measure of, oh, I am valued because these other people think so, when truly the only opinion of you that matters is your own. And so I just encourage you to focus on the fact that the most important things in life can’t be measured on a spreadsheet. Your net worth can be measured on a spreadsheet, pretty much. If it can be measured on a spreadsheet, it’s probably not the most important thing, just as a general rule. So those are some things that I want to share with you guys.
Anthony Vicino:
Some mistakes that we make, that we conflate one thing with the other, especially on the path of entrepreneurship. These are really easy mistakes to make. So I hope this brings you guys a little bit of value as always. Thank you for being here. I’ll catch you in the next episode. Until then, stay hyper focused, my friend.
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