On March 13, 2017, a professor at Laval University gave a mathematics and statistics exercise to his students. The exercise was titled:
“What is obvious isn’t always easy. How much is 2+2=?”
For four hours, fifth-year math students struggled with this problem. The answer was simple, but the professor explained: “I planted doubt in their minds with the way I phrased the question and by giving them four hours to solve such a simple exercise.”
The professor continued: “Some students even found a way to provide a solution that filled more than three pages to solve 2+2. I told them: ‘This is how education transforms intelligent people into overly rational thinkers.'”
Why am I telling you this story?
Some time ago, a journalist asked Bill Gates about his secret to hiring employees. While the journalist expected to hear that he recruited the best from Harvard or Oxford, Bill Gates replied:
“I only hire lazy people because lazy people find easy solutions to complex problems.”
This answer shocked the audience, but I completely agree with Bill Gates. Overthinking is the bane of 21st-century businesses.
Researchers have observed that some animals have vertical pupils while others have horizontal pupils: What’s the difference?
Vertical pupils allow predators to see long distances, whereas horizontal pupils give prey panoramic vision. Predators have a fixed vision that doesn’t account for their immediate surroundings. On the other hand, prey can’t see far, but they can perfectly see everything happening around them. The predator charges forward while the prey focuses on self-preservation.
Today, I truly believe the world is creating more prey than predators. To be an entrepreneur, you need to be a predator, meaning you must have long-term vision and not get distracted by your immediate environment. Unfortunately, nowadays we train more prey—people who focus on every little detail, questioning everything in pursuit of perfection.
The truth is, if you haven’t started your business yet, it’s because you’re overthinking. You’re too intelligent. You’re like those students who couldn’t solve 2+2. You think there’s a trick, so you don’t want to take risks. You spend your life trying to put everything in place before taking the leap, which gives you the panoramic vision of prey instead of the long-term vision of a predator.
Mark Twain once said: “They didn’t know it was impossible, so they did it.”
Bill Gates never studied computer science; he was in law school. When he started his tech company, many things were impossible to do, but he didn’t know that. Since he didn’t know it was impossible, he would suggest “stupid” ideas to his engineers.
One of his engineers shared that sometimes, after Bill left the office, the engineers would stay behind, laughing at the seemingly impossible solutions he had proposed. But since he was the boss, they had to pretend to work on the idea. While pretending, they discovered that the idea wasn’t so stupid after all, and that it was even possible to achieve.
My friend, entrepreneurship begins with courage and a bit of madness. The perfection you are seeking before launching your business is the very reason you may never start it.
Stop overthinking. Go for it!
The world is yours.
