I hate cowardice. Yet, on a few occasions, I was a coward.
When I launched my first startup, I built a product that found zero customers — zero revenue. Something was wrong. Maybe the product was wrong. Maybe, I had no idea how to market. (Now I know that it was the latter.)
Regardless, my startup idea was dead.
However, after investing so much time and money, I just couldn’t accept the truth. So I told myself, ‘The product is fine. All it is missing is this one critical feature. Once I add it, it will fly.’
But when I added that feature, nothing happened.
So I came up with another feature to add. And on and on it went. The more time and money I spent, the harder it became to accept my mistake.
Accepting that I was wrong, needed courage. But somehow, I couldn’t muster it.
If life has taught me one lesson, it is this: Everybody makes mistakes. But once you realize it, shamelessly accept and fix your mistakes. Tell people that you were wrong.
No matter how painful it is, the more you delay, the more painful it gets.
Physical courage is rare. Moral courage is rarer. But probably the rarest is the courage to accept, “I was wrong.”
If you can find that courage, you will be undefeatable — no matter what life throws at you.
– Rajan