When it comes to a new idea, a mentor once told me that my feelings and past experiences are lousy tools for evaluating that new idea.
What he said was something to the effect of, “You need to join the let’s-find-out club. Will that idea work? I don’t know, let’s find out”
At the same time, if you are using someone’s already successful system and that system has worked for others, but not for you, just maybe, you’re not really following their system.
And don’t say, “but we’re different here.” No you’re not, you’re just unwilling (or in some corporate settings, not allowed) to make the changes dictated by the successful system.
I once heard a trainer explain
If I told you to dial (555) 123 – 4567, give my friend on the other end your name & address, and he’ll send you a check for $100, don’t come back to me and say,
“I tried your system, and it didn’t work, I didn’t dial the number in the order you gave me, but I dialed all the numbers”
“I tried your system, and it didn’t work, I didn’t use the number 4 because I don’t like to press the number 4, so I just replaced it with two 2′s.”
“I tried your system, and it didn’t work, I put in the first 6 digits and didn’t get any result, so I didn’t bother to finish implementing your system you fraud.”
Laugh, but I have watched people, at great expense, implement their version of other peoples systems and then complain that not only did the original system not work, but that the people explaining the system were unyielding zealots who didn’t understand how things worked in the real world.
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