Whet Your Appetite for Success

Dear lovely people,

It is natural to think that something mouthwatering “wets your appetite,” but actually the expression is “whet your appetite” which in essence, instructs you to sharpen your appetite for something, as a whetstone sharpens a knife. As far as your quest for success is concerned, it is in your best interest to do those things that make you crave success even more. One of such is setting new grounds and actually breaking away from the vicious circle of “that’s the way it’s always been done” mentality.

Mark Cuban says that “Wherever I see people doing something the way it's always been done, the way it's 'supposed' to be done, following the same old trends, well, that's just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else.” So, if you are hoping to set new performance records in sales, at your job or in whatever you do by approaching it by the same failure-prone way as has been done in the past, that will be the best way to head for a stonewall.

Success is about conquering new grounds by doing the same things that others have done differently. As a trailblazer in your field because that is what you should strive to be, you are charged with the most important responsibility of guiding your own actions to achieve success. Whatever that mark of success may be, it most definitely involves heading towards positive change. It goes then without saying that in order to be successful, you must question everything and never allow the mindset because That’s The Way It’s Always Been Done.

There is an epic story about an experiment with five gorillas in a cage. I have been unable to determine the origin but it greatly epitomizes what I am talking about. It goes thus…

… In the center of the cage is a banana, hanging at the top of the cage just out of the gorilla’s reach. Below the delicious banana is a ladder. As the fastest of the gorillas begins to climb the ladder toward the banana, all five gorillas are sprayed with ice-cold water. All of the gorillas immediately retreat to the corners of the cage at which point the water stops spraying. After a while, another gorilla began to climb the ladder and was stopped by the other four who did not want to be drenched with ice-cold water.

One of the gorillas is removed from the cage and replaced with a new one. As soon as the newbie sees the banana, he goes for it. He is attacked by the other gorillas. He has no idea why, but fully understands that he will be assaulted if he tries to climb the ladder. A second gorilla is removed from the cage and replaced with a new one. Of course, the new gorilla eyes the mouthwatering banana and makes a dash for the ladder and is attacked. The first newcomer joins in the assault, even though he does not understand the reason for it.

A third gorilla is replaced and the same events unfold, this time with the first two replacements participating in the assault with no idea why. After the last two original gorillas are replaced, no gorillas who were sprayed with water remain. The new five, with no knowledge of why they should not approach the ladder, will never touch the ladder or make a climb for the appealing banana. Why? “Because that’s the way it’s always been around here.”

Just like the gorillas, we all naturally become accustomed to our standard, repetitive duties especially within organizations. When you are new to an organization, everything repetitive to others is new to you. Once you have been there a while, you do not realize how insensible you become. The old methods of doing our duties are what yield continual inefficiencies and the mentality that resists change. I know of a musician in my country who has trained and mentored many other musicians but guess what? They sing just like him in style, genre, dressing and even mimic his voice. They have no sense of originality.

That's why every single individual on the quest for lasting success and fulfillment should associate with and actively seek out new ideas and concepts from those who are already making it because if your justification for doing something is "That's the way we've always done it," or you reject contrary ideas because "That's not the way we learned it," you're just another unquestioning monkey, and you'll always have to settle for working for bananas.

Never and never be afraid to fail and new things. Instead of following the crowd of what everyone else is doing, look at your competitors, your market, at your clients and figure out what you can do differently. Now you know why Living Lectures is a whole new concept from all the others.