It's okay to be wrong.

If you aim for the basket enough times, at least a few shots will be 'airballs'.

Hi guys,

Hope you are well. I’m doing okay, Alhamdulillah.

I write this at 8:27 am on a bright Sunday morning in fairly good spirits. Yesterday was the freest Saturday I had had in a while, not because I didn’t have things to do, but because I decided early in the day that I had zero intentions of doing them. And so I mostly rested, went for a beginner's tennis class (I suck, but hopefully not for too long), and made a few calls I had been putting off.

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A few weeks ago, I had what I believed was a great idea. It was for a workplace initiative, and I thought it was something I could get my office to implement.

My plan was simple - do a bit of research to confirm that it made sense, speak to one or two people to ‘sense check’, and present it to one or two Partners, hopefully getting a senior leader to ‘sponsor’ it within the organization.

I did the initial reasoning x research and was sure I wanted to proceed. Then I reached out to a few people to book ‘coffee chats’ to have the conversation. One of them, let’s call him DV, seemed particularly interested. After rescheduling two or three times, we finally had the discussion.

I presented my idea and the reasoning behind it and was prepared with about 7 questions I wanted to ask that could inform my approach to designing the process. But I noticed that even as DV was listening and asking questions, his countenance was not particularly positive.

While his mouth was saying, “I get you Hameed. How do you think this might work?”, his facial expression and body language was saying, ‘This is the most stupid idea in the world. 😂😂”

You know how we intuitively know things? Like when somebody is trying to cheat us or not telling us the whole truth or has a crush on us? I just intuitively knew that DV was being polite but thought the initiative was a dead end. So I asked a question I thought would help clarify.

Me: If we get this off the ground, might you be interested in driving a part of it?

DV: Erm, no…it’s too early for me. I’ll definitely observe for now depending on my schedule, but maybe I’ll be more active as time goes on.

He is quite a pleasant guy so the conversation went on for a few minutes more. We agreed that I would continue with the research x speaking to people and get back to him. After the call, I felt like entering the ground lmaoo. Thinking through some of the points he had raised, I came to the conclusion that while the idea made sense in theory, getting the key stakeholders to implement it just did not seem realistic.

I immediately shelved all plans of continuing it. 😂

My lesson from the whole thing was that it's okay to be wrong. Some people put unrealistic expectations on themselves or others, thinking that every product, business, relationship, or idea 'must work'. It's just frankly not true.

** side note: The fact that an idea, business, product, or relationship does not work today does not make it inherently bad. Perhaps at a different time or in different circumstances, the very same thing that was unrealistic or foolish might be cause for celebration.

Case in point. Amazon is an absolutely innovative company that has created AWS, Alexa, Kindle, Prime, and many other fascinating products and services. But have you ever heard of Amazon Haven? Amazon Spark? Fire Phone?

Probably not.

Jeff Bezos at the launch of the Fire Phone - Image from AP/Ted S. Warren

Even the best of the best - the Jeff Bezoses of this world - get things wrong all the time. And so for the rest of us, chopping a few Ls here and there is okay. If you aim for the basket enough times, at least a few shots will be 'airballs'. It would be foolish to give up on basketball entirely because of this.

Get the ball back, bounce it a few times, and take another shot.

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As at December of 2020, I was in the middle of a second-wave lockdown in a small town in Europe. A terrible, isolating lockdown. At that point, I had not hugged a soul for about 4 months. I didn't realize how much I liked physical contact until I went about 120 days trying my best to follow the Covid-19 protocols.

Until one day, when a friend was having a really tough time and requested that I come over to help deal with it. Breaking isolation rules, I went over and we spent a few hours working through it together (initially two meters apart in the same room 😅). At the end of it all, he requested a hug. Of course, I obliged.

He might have thought I was doing him a favor, granting him the hug he desperately needed. But what he could not have realized at the time was that I probably needed that hug more than he did. We would find out the following week that he had been Covid-19 positive when we met, but I guess that is a story for another day.

** Jara content:

فَتَقَبَّلَهَا رَبُّهَا بِقَبُولٍ حَسَنٍۢ وَأَنۢبَتَهَا نَبَاتًا حَسَنًۭا وَكَفَّلَهَا زَكَرِيَّا ۖ كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا ٱلْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِندَهَا رِزْقًۭا ۖ قَالَ يَـٰمَرْيَمُ أَنَّىٰ لَكِ هَـٰذَا ۖ قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَآءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ

So her Lord accepted her with good acceptance and caused her to grow in a good manner and put her in the care of Zechariah. Every time Zechariah entered upon her in the prayer chamber, he found with her provision. He said, “O Mary, from where is this coming to you?” She said, “It is from Allah. Indeed, Allah provides for whom He wills without account.”

Have a great week. ✨