I am not a betting man. However, in my lifetime I have known quite a few people who enjoyed placing a bet or two. They generally fall into two categories – thoughtful bettors and instinctive bettors. The thoughtful bettors study all the games intently each week, and only select one or two games to place large wagers on. The instinctive bettors place a small amount on every game, possibly putting more down on a team they “have a good feeling about,” but dedicate little time to studying the match-ups before they place their bets.
Not surprisingly, the thoughtful bettors tend to win at a much higher rate than the instinctive bettors. The instinctive bettors tend to have large swings up and down, usually losing enough to, as they say, “let it all ride on the Monday night game.” This strategy, of course, rarely yields good results.
In my time I’ve known many talented people who used the same philosophy in their careers and failed. Many times they try to do everything because they know they are talented in certain areas, so they assume that talent will carry over to others. But in taking on all these additional duties, they end up spending too much time trying to learn new skills and not enough time focusing on the things they were talented at to begin with.
It’s like they’re standing in front of a dam with lots of leaks in it and trying to plug all of the holes. Sooner or later you run out of fingers and toes and the dam breaks.
Why not be like the thoughtful bettors and study all the options, narrowing them down to the ones that you truly excel at? Then you can place a big bet on yourself and feel confident that it will pay off.
This process starts with a favorite line from Clint Eastwood’s character Harry Callahan in Magnum Force: “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Do an honest evaluation of yourself. What are you good at, and what aren’t you good at? Once you’ve figured out what you do well, focus on those things instead of the things you don’t do well. This is where finding a good team can come in handy – if you choose the right people, their strengths can complement your weaknesses.
More than 25 years in commercial real estate has taught me that the best bet you can make is the one you make on yourself.
Have a great weekend,
Ro