When not having a go is the greatest risk to fulfilling our potential
Everything that has ever worked - every creation, invention, innovation - has started out as an idea. It has been made up. For it to work it has undoubtedly failed first, but more importantly for it to have come about it has required someone to try something, to have a go.
This was the thought I had watching Henry Arundell last weekend. Henry Arundell was playing for London Irish in the quarter final of the European Challenge cup against Toulon, the defending champions in the tournament. London Irish were losing 19-13 and there were seven minutes left of the game. Arundell is flung the ball on his own try line, his teammate barely manages to get the ball to him given the pressure he is under from the Toulon defender who has just kicked the ball down field. Arundell is on his own almost as far from the opposition try line as he could possibly be. With the game nearing the final whistle and at the wrong end of the pitch the obvious decision is to kick the ball away and restart play nearer halfway, further away from the risk of your own try line.
Instead, with green space ahead of him Arundell chooses to run the ball back. He makes good ground, swerving past two players before being closed down by two more, he feints and steps past one while accelerating round the other. He continues upfield, passing halfway by now, still with two players left to beat. He slows and accelerates again leaving both flat footed and initiating a race to the corner between him and the final two defenders. It is a race Arundell wins. He has beaten five defenders and covered the length of the field in 13 seconds to give his team a kick to claim the lead with a handful of minutes remaining. It is a score from nothing, it was a product of Arundell having a go.
Rugby columns have since been filled with references to his talent, Arundell is 19 years’ old and has played a handful of professional games before this. Some commentators referred to his attacking genius, for sure his score showed talent, but his talent, like all the ideas that come to fruition, is worth little if he hadn’t had the courage to have a go in the first place. In his case the outcome resulted in a chance for his team to win the game. One pundit’s comments felt particularly pertinent when he praised the instinct, confidence, and vision that created the try. How often do we have a vision, an idea, that feels right but for some reason or other we do not act?
Timothy Gallwey, one of the founders of modern day coaching, came up with the following formula
Performance = potential - interference
Although there are many interferences, the product of a lot of these interferences is that we simply don’t have a go. It echoes the cliche that if you don’t enter the lottery you can never win. If we take performance as being our best in any given situation, this means that by not having a go we are also putting the chance to be our best and to share that with the world at stake.
The risks of having a go
Trying something, regardless of what it is, is inherently risky, there are potentially negative consequences. While we could get it ‘wrong’ and so lose face or standing among our friends or colleagues, but perhaps one of the biggest worries is simply the uncertainty that having a go creates and with it a feeling of vulnerability.
In her book Rising Strong, Brene Brown defines vulnerability as ‘the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of the outcome’. With that vulnerability comes a lack of control and ultimately fear, often of not being good enough. Not having a go becomes a chance to not risk not being good enough in our eyes. If Arundell had not scored he may have been criticised for his attempt to run the ball back, deemed to have made the ‘wrong’ decision. This often feels like the greatest enemy of instinct and a key barrier in the vulnerability of having a go. The fear of getting it ‘wrong’.
Instead of acting in avoidance, not wanting to get it ‘wrong’ what happens if we act in the realm of possibility? If this goes as planned, if my idea works, what could that mean?
Sometimes, a life where we knew exactly how everything would pan out, where we know that by doing x we will produce y sounds wonderful, relieving-ly straight forward and comfortable. However, contemplating such a life also sounds potentially monotonous and lacking. Think back to the last time you did something unplanned that brought you joy? Imagine a life without that ever again. This doesn’t mean we should be vulnerable every moment of every day trying new and uncertain things. For our own wellbeing a balance between the vulnerability of trying new things and with following existing patterns is important.
At some point those existing patterns were also new. Balance also comes with following our instinct, listening to and trusting ourselves, the confidence that the pundit talks of in the case of Arundell. What we saw with his try is the product of countless moments of having a go, from the very first time he picked a rugby ball up to all the moments of deliberate, dedicated practice trying new things until they become second nature, instinctive.
The impact of having a go
So often we limit ourselves for fear of getting it wrong or the worry of what may happen, it stops us having a go, following our instinct, simply trying. If we don’t try we don’t know, we don’t learn and we miss out on chances to not only fulfil our potential but to share that with the world. Every great feat starts with a first step, a conscious decision to have a go. Yes, the uncertainty is scary, but often the possibility of what could be is even greater.
As my coach once asked me: ‘What if failure wasn’t an option? What would you do then?’
What would life look like if we followed our instinct, step by step, if we simply had a go?
Four questions to reframe inaction to having a go
What have you always wanted to try but have been putting off or never really had a go at?
What is stopping you?
What would simply having a go look like? What is the very first step?
What could it be like to take up this pursuit? What will it feel like to have had a go, to take that first step?
What will I do, when?
A final reflection
In a world of constant scrutiny, what would it look like if we let go of the outcome we are worried wont happen or we cannot control by considering that at every moment we are all simply having a go, learning, trying to fulfil our potential, to simply be our best?
