The Unknown

Dear lovely people,

“The world doesn't change in front of your eyes, it changes behind your back.” says Terry Hayes.

The Lion was the King of the forest. He had a powerful voice and he roared to please himself and scare others. All the animals were scared of him. He also knew every corner of the forest and every animal and every sound in it. There was a pond in the middle of the forest. The Lion would drink water and sleep there for some time, every day. One day, the Lion finished drinking water and lay down by the pond. As his eyes were closing, he heard a new sound. It was a hollow, croaky sound. He opened his eyes, but he didn’t see anyone! Then, he heard it a second, and a third time.

By now, the Lion was scared and thought in fear, `What if it were a ghost?’ After some time, a Frog crawled out of the pond and croaked. The Lion saw that he had been scared out of his wits by so small a creature! He grew angry with the Frog and tore it to pieces with his claws. The poor Frog never croaked again!

We are all afraid of the unknown to some degree or another. We are quick to judge, fear and even hate the unknown. We may not admit it, but we are all plagued with xenophobic tendencies. It is silly to fear anything without complete knowledge of it. If we really want to pursue our dreams in life, we need to overcome these fears.

Many people are afraid to try their ideas out because they are afraid of failure. However, if you reduce the cost of your attempt, by framing it as an experiment, you reduce the cost of failure. Even when you conduct such an experiment, remember, every experiment has 1. Option value (the value of the opportunity if you succeed), 2. Strategic value (the value of the people you meet in the process) and 3. Exit value (the value of the knowledge you gain in the process that may be re-applied elsewhere).

Your success boils down to taking smart risks by finding the risks you are comfortable reducing or deferring and making wise choices about the value of what you try. If you do this, even if you fail, you will view it as a success.