Step

47 ½

Don’t stop doing everything by halves, that’s if you do anything at all

When Julius Caesar invaded Britain, he decided to have a quick question and answer session with his massed ranks of legionnaires on the cliff tops, above what is now Dover, before they went in search of their first battle with the ancient Britons. “So, who has the first question?” said Caesar. One of the soldiers’ hands went up. “Great Caesar, is it true that these Britons have thousands of fierce war machines, with sharp blades that stick out from the wheels, designed to cut our men’s legs off at the knees?” “Umm . . .” ­murmured Caesar. “I don’t know the answer to that one, but are there any more questions?” A second soldier’s hand shot up. “Oh mighty Caesar, is it true these Britons are ten feet tall, have two heads and cover their naked bodies in blue paint to scare the enemy before they go into battle?” “Don’t know that either,” replied Caesar with a hunch of his shoulders. “Right lads, I’ve just got time for one more question before we get stuck in,” shouted Caesar. A timid hand went up from the ranks. “Caesar, I’ve heard these Britons are led by a fierce warrior queen and have sworn to her they will die to the last man rather than surrender,” said a worried looking Centurion. “Sorry lads, I don’t know the answer to that either,” responded Caesar. “But what I do know,” he continued, “is that if you look down on the beach, I’ve burnt all the boats, so we’d better win!”

Emerson says that enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. And he is dead right. But more important than enthusiasm, to your ultimate success or failure, will be your level of commitment. Several years ago when I left a well-paid job to go off into the world of the self-employed, the common response from many of my former colleagues was, “Well, if it doesn’t work out you can always come back.” Thing is, I’d burnt my boats, so I couldn’t. The other thing most people said was, “I couldn’t handle the insecurity of being self-employed. Not knowing where my next pay cheque was coming from.” At first I believed them, until I realised I had more security than them. No one could fire me, but me. And unlike their fixed salary, there was no limit to what I could earn. Sure, people thought I should be committed, and I was. Trouble is, they meant to a secure unit for the insane.

“More important than enthusiasm, to your ultimate success or failure, will be your level of commitment.”

Now remember the quote from our brainy friend Goethe in step 6? Of course you don’t. I mean the one where he was talking about increasing the number of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance that we enjoy in life by increasing our level of commitment. “Until one is committed, there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back . . .” Well, he also said: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” This one quote had a profound impact on a guy who came on one of my boat workshops. David Taylor is the production director for a highly successful design company and now lives in the beautiful city of Sydney, Australia. But that wasn’t always the case. Here’s how David tells it:

“Steve, when I came on your boat workshop you covered a lot of things, but the one thing that did it for me was that quote from that German bloke. Now I’m from Yorkshire (remember we are blunt ­speakers) andI would translate what he was saying to mean, ‘Dave, nobody is going to do it for you, you need to get off your arse, stop making excuses and do it for yourself.’ Let me tell you about my circumstances back then. We were living in an ex-council house in Huddersfield that we’d bought off the council because it seemed a good idea at the time. Naturally, it being our first house, we were proud and spent lots of time and money making it as nice as possible. Then, for some unknown reason, things started to go wrong. The estate, and the behaviour of the people living on the estate, took a real turn for the worse. People started dumping their rubbish in our garden, threatening our kids on the way to school, the crime rate soared and lots of the houses around about us became boarded up and derelict. My wife and I thought, that’s it, we are stuck here for ever. I mean, who in their right mind would now want to buy our house?

Then I listened to what Goethe had to say on your workshop and began to think. It was June at the time, and that night when I got home, I immediately said to my wife, ‘Good news, we are moving out on the 3rd of January.’ She said, ‘But where to and how?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, but what I do know is we are moving out on the 3rd of January.’ You see, I had also learned that if you have a really big why, and a when, then you will do whatever it takes to find the how. She thought I was crazy. Even so, I put our house up for sale. But do you know what, as soon as I made that decision, things changed. I now believed we could do it and started to notice things that had simply passed me by before. Like the tiny advertisement for bridging loans from a small building society. I took out a loan and we bought a nice house in a great area. We still hadn’t sold our house and my wife was frantic, but I just kept saying, ‘We are moving out on the 3rd of ­January and if I have to, I’ll board the house up until we sell it.’ Obviously with the bridging loan I only had a few weeks’ grace before it would be financially impossible to pay for both houses, but I was now committed to finding a solution.

Anyway, come January 3rd, there’s a removal van outside our house; we’re moving but the house still isn’t sold. I’m standing by the back of the van when who should walk past but the headmistress from our children’s school. She stops and says, ‘Hello Mr Taylor, I knew you were moving because your children have left to go to their new school; it’s just I never knew you lived here. Do you know, I think this is the best, most beautifully looked after house on the estate. I’ve been thinking about moving nearer to the school, I’m sick of all the travelling I have to do. I know it’s not the best of areas but I don’t mind that for the extra convenience. I know it’s a bit late to ask, but by any chance is the house still for sale?’”

What do you think David said? Now there are two ways of looking at this. Either David made it happen or he is the luckiest man on the planet. I’ll leave you to decide.

You may have heard of the actress Lana Turner. The story goes she was working as a waitress in a Hollywood coffee shop when she was discovered by a movie producer. Is the equivalent of that going to happen to you? No. I’m not even sure it really happened to her. It is more likely an invented PR story that appeals to our nature of wanting something for nothing and firmly believing in luck. To remain a fuck-up, don’t stop waiting to be discovered. Don’t stop waiting for a producer to show up. Don’t go and produce yourself instead. You see, if you continue to wait, you won’t practise being the best you can be, which means even when an opportunity does arise, you won’t be ready.

“To remain a fuck-up, don’t stop waiting to be discovered.”