Name of My New Band: Best Efforts Are For Cowards

by Jeff Brown

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

It wasn’t until I was past 30 when it came to me, much like the cliché bolt of lightning. As is the human condition, I sometimes allowed circumstances to dictate my thoughts and actions, instead of rational thought dictating even more valuable thought, often followed by ever increasing productive action. Once I realized this, the lightning struck.

It’s been put a myriad ways, but my favorite has always been the one aimed for the mind’s jugular.

Simply put — those who endeavor to generate any result, immeasurably small or life changing, with the attitude based upon trying their best — are cowards, pure and simple. Sound harsh? Who among us doesn’t see examples of their lives in that truth?

In my recent post about handling change and adversity I alluded to this axiom. In essence it says — There are those who try, and there are those that do. In my experience, there’s no middle ground I’ve ever witnessed. The so-called ‘journey to success’ hymn is nice balm for those who never really succeed, but succeeding is a fairly easy concept to recognize when we see it. Succeeding clearly involves a journey, but when there’s consistently no ‘Point B’ to the infinite journeys on which one embarks, success hasn’t been attained. The journey as balm is nothing if not a substitute for actually getting something done.

“I’m gonna run a marathon.” Yeah, right. Can’t tell you how many times it took me ’till after the 20th mile to pass some 60-something year old guy who never once tried to run a marathon in his life. He just ran it. Come to think of it, one of my favorite running memories is coming in ‘3rd woman’ in my age group in a 20K race. 🙂 Go figure.

I’ll quote someone who stared right through me as he said: “Don’t make excuses Brown, make good.” Lest anyone miss the deadly heart-piercing arrow in that admonishment, I’ll translate.

Triers make excuses while Doers succeed. Still don’t quite see it? Life doesn’t reward those who try. Real estate offices are almost completely populated with triers. Ouch!

Possibly the most insidious, (dare I say cancerous?) launching point for anything we attempt in life, no matter its size or importance, is the declaration: I’m gonna give it my best shot. Instead, why don’t you just skip the venture and move on to your next failure? Those who continually hide behind the wall of ‘best effort’ are masters of two things in life — the pre-installed excuse — and failure. It’s pathetic on its face, yet it’s supported, between the lines mind you, by the legions of triers who want support for all the goals they’ve driven into the ditch.

We all have a switch in our heads. In the ‘off’ position is try your best mode. However, the real juice is unleashed when you flip that most powerful switch to ‘on’. It’s the ‘Get ‘er done!’ switch. We all know folks who, simply put, go through life getting things done. Ironically their successes go mostly unseen, as they don’t really think much about what they’re doing. They’re lost in the act of, well, doing. They don’t understand how they’d ‘try’ to get something accomplished. If they didn’t think it was imminently possible — doable if you prefer — it wouldn’t be in their head in the first place. Why? Again, simple — they’re rational beings. They don’t wanna try to fly by flapping their arms. They may wanna learn how to fly an airplane though. Think they’ll try to fly an airplane or actually learn how it’s done? Don’t answer, it’s a rhetorical question. 🙂

How much would lives change if folks stopped striving for goals, no mater how big or small they weren’t committed to achieving? That sounds simple minded, but think about it, allow it to germinate and thrive a bit. What would you quit doing this instant if success was your only option? That my friends isn’t simple minded. In fact it can, and I can almost guarantee it will, lead to some fairly profound decisions. If it’s indeed a worthy goal, why wouldn’t success be the only option?

How does this apply to real estate?

That’s the easy part, cuz it sure ain’t rocket science. Break down everything on you plate as it relates to earning your income. Literally put it down in writing. Next to each entry mark it with either ‘Try’ or ‘Do’. To the extent you have too many tries and not enough do’s, you’ve defined the pothole in your ‘journey’ to success that will find you every single day.

Don’t get down on yourself. You’ve done the one thing triers almost never do — you’ve been brutally honest with yourself. Remember, those who try at life are pathetic, excuse making cowards. They KNOW they’re gonna fail, and they know why. Again, ponder that truth of life awhile. Don’t wince if you recognize a little (or a lot) of that thinking goin’ on in your head. The solution is no secret, and truly simple.

Flip your own switch to ‘on’.

Not buyin’ it? Try it on small things first. Better yet, let me give you some anonymous but real life examples I’ve witnessed in real life, in real time.

How ’bout the guy who found himself married with kids, a high school diploma, and a $2/hour job? He decided to get his degree in engineering. Took him over a decade. He did it. He’s now retired as a quality control specialist, having worked for several of the most successful aeronautics firms in the country.

Or the man who retired relatively early only to get the itch to be an attorney. Went to night school for five years. Passed the bar exam his first time out. As he’d always been a ‘C’ student and had put up with taunts from the ‘A’ student crowd, he visited their favorite watering hole when he got the letter from the state telling him he’d passed. There they were, consoling each other, crying in their beers. He asked them, “Hey, anybody know what you call a dumb ‘C’ student who passes the bar? An attorney! Next round is on me, geniuses.” Footnote: The guy never bought a textbook while in law school. He studied exclusively from the syllabus and various notebooks available in bookstores.

We see examples of doers in our lives daily.

Do you workout? Is your body either obviously changing or already of the hard, lean variety? No? You must still be trying, right? Been trying to ‘get organized’? How’s that workin’ out for ya? Both of these examples undress the trier for what they are — cowards. How hard is it to actually workout consistently, or get organized for Heaven’s sake? Don’t answer, cuz all you’ll do is embarrass yourself. We’ve all been there, right?

The most hurtful truth of all for the coward is to admit they’re even afraid of success. They ‘try’ everything, put on great shows of what’s designed to mimic doing. But they avoid the very idea of success. They’d rather guarantee failure behind a curtain of valiant faux effort than put themselves on the line and actually commit to doing anything.

And that my friends, is why the name of my new band is — Best Efforts Are For Cowards.