The Sound of Potential
“You have absolutely no messages. Not a single one. Not even from your mother.” The Answering Machine, Bridget Jones’s Diary
I love it when I hear the familiar ding that my phone makes when I have a new email. Sadly, most of the time it turns out to be just some useless junk mail trying to sell me something. But still, I love that sound. Right along with that sound, I love seeing the little number in the corner of the app that tells me something new is awaiting.
Scientifically speaking, the sound and the little number both trigger my brain to release a chemical called dopamine which makes me feel excited. Beyond that though, I was trying to figure out what it was about that sound that was so gratifying. Especially since as I mentioned, it usually tends to be some worthless message.
Recently, I was able to put my finger on it. To me, that little noise is the sound of potential. The little rush of excitement that I get is simply because I always believe that the next email could be the one. The email that I have been waiting for all my life… What is that email? I have no idea. I guess I always figured I would know it when I saw it.
Maybe it’s just a sort of blind optimism that good things are always still to come or maybe it’s just me being incredibly naive. In either case, I am very happy to have those expectations and beliefs. I’ve always lived and managed teams by a simple idea — things can always be better.
That’s not saying that things may not be great right now. Or that we can’t accept something that is good enough for the time being. What I’m saying is that I believe we can always create something better than we have previously created.
As people and as leaders we have the ability to constantly learn, grow and adapt. Every day we are gaining new experiences, both positive and negative. Many times we fail and succeed on the same day. While that might be a bit tumultuous and sometimes a little disconcerting, I think it’s actually a blessing.
Obviously we want and arguably need some success in our lives. Those little glimmers of what could be can drive us forward by continually igniting our passion about whatever we are trying to accomplish. Even small successes can serve well to do this. In fact, I believe those small successes are actually better at driving our passion for growth than larger achievements.
Now for the other side of the coin — the failures. They are a key part of growth that may be even more important than the successes. There are two things I love about the failures. First, they help weed out the things we aren’t really passionate about. For example. I design board games as a side gig and when I am working on a new design, I many times hit roadblocks that make the design more challenging. More often that not, I put that game down and don’t come back to it. However, when I am working on a game I really want to see to the finish, I will always come back to it. Every time. This process saves me a lot of time and allows me to focus on what I care most about.
The second way those little failures can help is that they force us to think differently than we normally might. When we are stuck on something, we are able to think around the problem and find a solution that we likely would have never found at our original starting point. Many times in the end of the project, we find that the end result was better off for having those little failures and roadblocks.
Back to that whole naive eternal optimism idea I mentioned earlier. I have come to believe in my life that the sometimes silly belief that the next email or phone call or meeting could be the one that forever changes my life for the better are what give me the will to stick to it day after day. It also has made me willing to take risks — like quitting my job and starting a coaching and writing business for a living. Something that would have terrified most people — and with good reason.
An employee once asked me why I was optimistic that we could come out better on the other side of any project or issue our team was working through together. At the time, I told them I didn’t know. That I just always believed it. The truth I have come to realize is that I choose to believe it. Because without that belief, I don’t think I would ever have the will to do new things and push through failures.
If you are finding yourself struggling with some project or issue… Give it a try. Choose to believe that you can make it better on the other side of it and then start strategizing on how to make it happen. You’ll have bad days, weeks, even months sometimes and that’s okay too. I go through those times too. You can make it to the other side and that’s when the work can begin.
I hope the next time you hear that email ding you think… Maybe this is the one!
-Jason