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Let's rename the thread. How about: "Learning From My Mistakes - Building An Ecommerce Brand"? I think it will reflect the future posts in this thread.
Thread title changed to “Building an eCommerce brand”.
Your identity is a very significant influencer of your behavior. Who you ought to be dictates what you must do. And what you must do is oftentimes what you end up doing.
If you identify as a "stupid naive kid," even in a joking fashion, it will likely affect your decisions down the line... like starting this thread with an expectation of failure. How many high performer successful people identify as stupid and walk towards failure? I'd wager not that many.
One thing I say sometimes is "expect success, but prepare for failure." Failure is inevitable, but optimism helps fuel your perseverance. With perseverance, success becomes inevitable as well.
I recommend consciously addressing the language that you use and tailoring it more towards your desired outcomes.
Learning from your mistakes is great. It's fun and exciting and extraordinarily rewarding. How can you take this an extra step further? Can you turn your mistakes into an unavoidable victory? Can you build an empire on a foundation of mistakes? Can you power through your mistakes and reach a world-dominating eCommerce brand?
I think you can. Do you believe me?
Do you believe yourself?
Use your words to project your ideal reality, then transform your work into the bricks you lay to build it.
So... who is this person that will learn from his mistakes and build an (astounding) ecom brand? What does this person look and sound like? Who are the people this person helps? What is the value their effort creates?
WHY are they surmounting their challenges to reach their ideal future?
Answer these questions and align them with your goals, and you'll have a much easier time reaching them.
Anyway, nice lessons thus far. Hopefully, they're based on the action you've taken thus far and more are to come
Relative to what?
You were born knowing nothing. That's true. But haven't you learned things along the way?
Then you're less ignorant than your past self. Sure, you may not be smarter than *insert arbitrary smart person here* but you sure as hell are smarter than a whooole lot of people out there, including your dumbass past self that has failed however many times.
I reject the notion that you're the most stupid person out there. Your presence on this forum and your many valuable contributions over the past 5 years prove that. Your progress and lessons learned prove that. You being humble enough to even humor the notion proves without a shadow of a doubt that the notion is absurd.
We all lack experience. That's why we must continuously learn. But trying and failing and getting up and trying some more... that's what makes us smart, not stupid. We act to reach our purposeful goals. That's what makes us human. We use our (incomplete) information to deliberate the best course of action, then we follow through.
That's smart!
What's stupid is being carried along by the wave of society without questioning anything, like a mollusk. Being told what your path looks like and following it without question, without deliberation. As a matter of fact, most people are mindless drones shambling down the slowlane, cursing their circumstances they are too stupid to disavow.
You're not one of those people. Therefore, at least in my eyes, you're one of the smartest people out there. You may be naive. You may be ignorant. I don't know enough about you to judge, and I don't care. But I hate seeing people who are conditioned to hold themselves back, burdened by invisible chains they've accepted as a matter of fact.
Being humble is good. Being aware of inevitable failure is good. Being prepared to face your errors and your roadblocks is good. These are all traits that make someone smart.
Being smart doesn't mean you no longer have to learn. It doesn't mean never making mistakes or failing. It doesn't mean knowing everything or being capable of everything.
Hell... I'm gonna be a little mean and give an example here. Ben Carson is a world-renowned neurosurgeon, has many awards and even a movie. He published books and has spoken in front of countless people with great authority. Most people would probably say that guy is really smart. He surely is extraordinarily accomplished. But most people are dumb as bricks, because Ben Carson is genuinely one of the dumbest people I've ever seen in my life... and I've met people who've failed first-grade multiple times, then dropped out before 6th-grade because "school is too hard" and they were already of working age.
Seriously. Just look him up and listen to anything he has to say about anything that isn't neurosurgery and it'll temporarily drop your own IQ by 20 points.
You're smarter than Ben Carson, guaranteed, and he successfully graduated from a top school, operated on people's brains, made millions of dollars, raised a family, and whatever other conventional indicators of success you might think about probably.
What's the difference, really?
Carson had one path. He committed to it and focused on it until he became one of the best in the world at that one particular thing. Specialties are very valuable, so he was rewarded with success. In exchange, he lacks the context and nuance to be smart about things in general. He's got books and a steady hand. Great for him; hope he's happy.
You, on the other hand, are not only already more aware of reality, but you've also learned lessons on your own that most people never learn throughout their entire lives. And you're just getting started! You may not have a successful elite career with a top-tier skill. But you'll continue working and learning and getting smarter. It's only a matter of time before you catch your own big break that justifies everything.
So be at least a little bit proud sometimes. It's not a sin. Proud of your mistakes and the lessons they've taught you. Proud of your bravery to even attempt to deviate from the conventional path of uncertain success and guaranteed servitude. No need for hubris, but confidence sure as hell makes things a lot easier.
Be smart about it
And let us know about the dirt you've digested and all the gold nuggets you've pooped out after haha
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