THE WINNER, AND NEW...!!!

This past weekend was a big one for sports fans. Stick with me, and let me explain, because this post contains a great lesson on effectiveness.

In this post, I will interchangeably use the words effectiveness, success, and achievement. As you might know, the two main things, that impede achievement, are fear and doubt. This post is about doubt.

Have you ever noticed that super-achievers tend to be arrogant? Do not get me wrong, once a person is successful it is smart to feign humility. Warren Buffett is an absolute master at it. But, to achieve high levels of success requires enormous amounts of confidence. Perhaps even arrogance.

The reason is simple. The reason is one word: doubt. On your entrepreneurial journey, doubt will be your ever present companion. And, it is a real pisser because doubt is simultaneously a big thing and a bad. It is a paradox.

Doubt is good when it comes in the form of a healthy skepticism. A healthy does of skepticism will help you sniff out, and avoid, the hucksters. And, let's be honest, there is a lot of snake oil out there.

The bad form of doubt is self-doubt. When things are not working out the way you had planned, doubt will be there to rush in. We euphemistically believe that doubt keeps ego in check. But, the truth is, doubt destroys entrepreneurs.

And, that brings me to this past weekend. Over the weekend, Conor McGregor defeated Jose Aldo to become the UFC featherweight champion. There is a good chance you might have heard about McGregor.

McGregor is obnoxiously confident (to borrow a phrase from Gary Vaynerchuk.) Indeed, many would call Conor cocky. He is. But, is that a problem?

Don't get me wrong, sometimes it seems Conor goes too far. He does talk trash about his opponent. Which is rough. But, the trash talk is meant to gin up controversy, sell more tickets, and make more money. As far as the fight game goes, it can be a smart move.

Aside from the trash talk, is arrogance a problem? Not necessarily. When it comes to effectiveness and entrepreneurship, confidence works much better than doubt. Have you ever heard the saying, "Often wrong, never in doubt"? Pretty wise.

As an aside, I am a big fan of Jim Collins. I think he is a smart dude. But, Collins had led lots of people astray with his notion of “Level 5 Leadership.” If you have not read Good to Great let me summarize and tell you that Level 5 Leadership is about being humble.

Listen, now is neither the time nor place to get into a thorough discussion on the complexities of human beings. Suffice it to say people can be simultaneously confident and humble. To cut to the chase, I disagree with Collins on his conception of leadership.

Leaders might choose to present themselves as humble. But, believe me, under the surface, a successful leader is very confident. If Level 5 Leadership is so necessary, how do we account for people like Steve Jobs and Donald Trump?

Anyhow, back to Conor McGregor. Saturday night Conor took the belt from Jose Aldo. If you are not familiar with mixed martial arts you need to understand that Aldo had not lost a fight in ten years. Ten years! And, Aldo was widely considered the best fighter in the world, pound-for-pound.

I think we have all heard that quote, attributed to Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't–you're right.” It is mostly true. But, one thing that is certainly true is that you cannot beat the best fighter in the world if you do not believe you can.

Belief, faith, confidence. These are the antidotes to doubt. And, doubt is an insidious problem. For this reason, I think we can forgive people for going too far with the confidence thing.

Life is not black and white. It is a gradient, not unlike a dimmer switch. We need to concern ourselves with tendencies more than absolutes. I am talking about leaning in certain directions. And, if you ask me, when it comes to entrepreneurship, I think it is wise to err on the side of too much confidence rather than too much humility.

Don't be an ass. But, do believe in yourself. Unapologetically.