The Biggest Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make | Simon Sinek’s Insight

Good morning, Believe Nation. It's Evan. My one word is believe, and I believe in people more than they believe in themselves. And my sincere hope is that if you see in yourself what I see in you, you'll be able to change the planet. So to help you on your journey, today's message is be open to the unknown. Over to you, Simon Sinek.

I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going.

I wake up every morning Rarely are we instant experts.

You may have a particular gift or affinity towards something, but you still get better. You know, people would pay me high compliments when I started speaking, and then people who've seen me a year or two later say that I'm even better, and I feel it.

Why is that?

Because you learn more, you know. I think that hubris is dangerous. I think to think that you're an expert in anything is a foolish pursuit. You're never as good as you could be. There's always room for improvement. There's always room to get better. That doesn't mean you have to listen to all the advice. Not necessarily does everybody know best, but to believe that you can be better and to believe that you can offer more is a constant pursuit. I used to think being a public speaker meant being poised and presenting in a way that was compelling and speaking at the right pace. And that's a part of it. But I have been taking more risks lately, doing things that are very unstructured and very uncomfortable. And I will now do— like, if I have an hour to speak, I'd rather speak for 20 minutes and do 40 minutes worth of questions. And who knows how that's going to go? And that, to me, is the best. And so I'm a better speaker because now I'm way more open to the unknown, where a few years ago, that That would have scared me.

One of the greatest skills I think you can master is to learn to be comfortable in the uncomfortable, to lean in on it, to feel the excitement and energy from it, as opposed to just the fear and shrinking downness of it, which is what a lot of people do. A lot of people are super uncomfortable when there's a new, strange, scary situation happening, and you want to lean in on that so you can grow as a human, but also so you can bring the most to your business. A good habit to try to get into is as soon as you think of a new idea, as soon as you come up with something that you want to try, you want to talk to that person, you want to launch this new business, you want to create this new campaign, as soon as you have that idea, find some small way to take immediate action on it. One, you're more likely to follow through, you're more likely to build momentum and to actually see some results coming from it. But two, what happens is, here's what happens so often, there's so many entrepreneurs and it's so frustrating and it's so limiting for a lot of you guys is you come up with an idea and you're excited, right? Like, this could be a great new idea. I really want to try this thing out. And then you add more layers and layers and layers and extrapolations, and it— and this little tiny idea becomes this huge big project. And as you scale up the project, and it's exciting to think about how you can make it this big thing, right? If you want to launch a YouTube channel, it starts with one video, and then you think, well, I need to have my banner art, I need to have my production schedule, I need to figure out what lights and what camera, what microphone. And you like build up this huge project that is very exciting, but then the fear kicks in. And then it's like, well, how do I go out and accomplish all those things? I need a team, I need money, I need resources, I need time, I need to plan, I need to plan, I need to plan. And you're stuck in this constant planning mode, and it becomes such a big idea that then you never do anything about it. Where if you can cut that off sooner, and as soon as you get an idea while it's still little, of something that you want to try, go out and do it. Go out and see how it works. See if you enjoy it. See if you want to do it again. I keep thinking back to dating as an example, where if you're about to meet somebody for the first time, if you're already thinking long-term, if you're already thinking about the wedding and the kids and retirement and death, like you're thinking all the way out there, you're putting so much pressure that you're probably not even going to say hi to this person. And you don't even know if it's ever going to work out. Or just go out and grab a coffee, see if you like them, see if you want to go out for another coffee. Right? I think as soon as you get an idea, to just try it. And it's uncomfortable and it's scary, but just try it in some small way. I think about my Malaysia speech that I did a couple years ago. It was a meaningful speech for me because it was the first time I introduced "Your One Word" and "Believe" to an audience. Maybe I did it to you guys first on YouTube, but like to an actual speaking audience. And just before going on stage, I had a woman stop me at breakfast and was talking about how she was being cyberbullied and how it was really impacting her negatively, and she was thinking of shutting down all her social accounts and the impact that it had on her family, and just a really sad story from a really beautiful, wonderful, caring woman. And I was about to get on stage, about to go do my second speech, And I just thought of this idea, like, wouldn't it be great to involve her somehow? Wouldn't it be great to give her some recognition and have the people in the audience support her? And so I brought her up on stage. She had no idea what was happening. And I asked her, you know, are you okay if I tell your story? And she said yes. And I told her story. And then what I wanted people to do was, while I was speaking, I had this, my new friend here, to the side of the stage. And I said, "Everybody, what I want you guys to do is come up and take a picture with her, put hashtag— I think it was hashtag peace or hashtag love, and anybody who tags me in the picture, takes a picture with her and has hashtag peace or love, I will give them one of my guides, an ebook download that I had." And while I was talking at the front, there was this huge lineup, and throughout the entire presentation, People were taking pictures with her, and they were laughing, and they were smiling, and there were tears of joy and happiness. And it really made an impact on my new friend, this woman that I had met, but also on everybody coming through, that this was something that was really important. And it made the talk that much more valuable to everybody. And it just happened spur of the moment. This was not a planned thing. If she didn't come and meet me at breakfast and stop me and say hi and tell me her story, I wouldn't have done that. I would have just continued with my regularly planned speech. And so I think it's good to have a plan, but it's good to make adjustments. It's good to lean into the unknown. I had this idea, and instead of making it this big thing that I could save for the next time I do a speech or the next time this thing happens, I'm going to do something right now. And it may work and it may not work out, but I'm going to test it. And that one worked out really well. But sometimes it doesn't work out, right? Sometimes you fall on your face. Sometimes you think you can do that jump and you can't make it and you fall down. That's gonna happen too. But I try to embrace the approach of I would rather know and fail than not know, than just live in my head. Because I would hate to think that here is this woman who I could have helped, who I could have made a meaningful contribution to, and all these people in the room that I could have helped and made a meaningful contribution to, but I was too scared to do it. I was too scared of releasing an imperfect plan, and so I did nothing. And that's too often what we do in our business and in our lives. We have this idea and we're too afraid to release an imperfect plan, and we do nothing as a result. There will never be a perfect plan. You can think up a plan all you want, but as soon as you start to get out there into the world and test it, your plan will change. Every single successful business, the plan they started with is not the plan that ultimately helped them grow. It was part of their plan, but they had to change, they had to adapt. And so too many of us are just stuck in our heads and we don't take enough action. And so I'd strongly encourage you, the next time you're feeling uncomfortable, next time you're feeling nervous about something, next time you get that little queasy feeling you know, about, I don't know if I should do that or not. Just do it. Say yes. Embrace the approach that you would rather know and have it fail than live the rest of your life with regret because you were too afraid to take some kind of action. So the question today is, I'm curious, what is something that you are working on that you're afraid to release that is imperfect, but now you're going to go out and push it and let people know about it, at least in a small way? I'm curious, what is that project? Leave it down in the comments below. I'm really curious to find out. And if you leave a comment within the first couple hours of this video going live, you have a chance to win one of two daily prizes. I also want to give a quick shout out to Chris and Juliana. Thank you guys so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word, and taking that great picture in your car with it. I hope you enjoyed the read, and I really appreciate the support. Thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso.

Do something new.

You know, you've got to make— you can't stay in your comfort zone. That's what we all do. We get to a certain age, we all stay in our comfort zone with our recliners watching television day in and day out. And when you get to a certain age— I'm going to be 70 at the end of the year— where I sit around watching television for the rest of my life because I've done it all, sitting on my laurels, it reads. It's not worth it. I mean, life's so short, there's such glorious images in the world and such horror as well, that I want to see it all. So I've moved out of my comfort zone. It's essential for me, otherwise I may as well die. So I've done it, I've broken every rule in the book, and not out of malice or any telling anyone that I'll show you. I did it to show myself. I've shown myself. I looked in the mirror, I thought, I'll show you one day. And I've done something completely new. I wrote the music and I feel limitless.

You won a Grammy.

You've got like nominations for an Oscar. You've won a SAG Award.

You won a Golden Globe. Like, you've done so much. Like, how do you keep going? Like, what inspires you?

Honestly, I pray always to stay open. You know, if you're always learning something new, then you have— you can be inspired. But I don't just kind of sit and look at the past like I did this. Until people like you remind me of a lot of stuff, I don't really, you know, think about it in the same way because I see the new things on the horizon and I don't feel like I have to do the same thing over and over. I think if you're a creative person, then you kind of just have to follow your vibe. If an opportunity is there for something interesting that, you know, kind of sparks that thing in you, then you go for it. And I'm just kind of never one of those people who felt like I couldn't do it. I've got the right people around me that I believe to do anything I put my mind to.

All you do is kind of master everything that you've done.

I don't master it all, but I persevere through it all, and it gives me a chance to find the next thing to work on. So I'm a fighter, you know, I know how to take them as much as I can give them.

So when I, for some reason, felt that I had this small bit of confidence to audition for the drill team, and I made sure I was auditioning for captain, not just to be a part of the team, which was not— that was not something that I normally did in my life, like step outside of my comfort zone and do something where I was being put out in front of people. But I auditioned, and they made me captain. And the drill team coach, Elizabeth Cantine, saw something in me immediately. She saw an ability that I had, my body proportions, and she thought, you are a ballerina. And I want to introduce you to someone who's giving a free ballet class at the 'Boys and Girls Club' that you already attend. So I was not at all interested in ballet, but after about a week of hiding out in the back of this ballet class on the basketball court, the teacher Cynthia Bradley pulled me on, and I took my first class in socks and shorts and a t-shirt.