Superficial Intelligence

Last Sunday, I went with my wife, her mother, and her brother to a soccer game. We were excited because the visiting team was from our home country. The Puerto Rico Islanders had come to play a match against the Minnesota Thunder. And we were the only ones there to cheer for them.

By the end of the first half, Puerto Rico was losing 2-0. All you could hear was the heckling from the Minnesota supporters (which were concentrated not far from where we sat). We started to wonder if coming to the game was worth it. Our team was losing and everybody else's was winning.

Sometimes, that's how we feel when we undertake a project or start working towards our goals. Although it's perfectly rational to do what we're doing, it's not what most people are doing. It's a risk we take. But you know what? If you do make it, if you do win, you win a lot more than anybody else. The Puerto Rico Islanders won the game 3-2 with a spectacular second half. And we were happier than everybody else in that stadium. We took a risk by going against the flow, but in the end the rewards were great.

We can choose to always play it safe. We can choose to do what everybody else is doing, to do what we know already works. Or we can take a risk. What will you do?