The reason “try everything once” is bad advice

I recently stumbled across a letter an incarcerated man wrote to his son on June 12, 1984. 

He opens talking about a story of a hill he runs everyday in the yard and how just three weeks prior he couldn’t even reach the top. 

What may surprise you is this letter was written by a man many consider to be one of the greatest copywriters/direct response marketers who ever lived. His name was Gary Halbert. 

The letter is part of a series of letters — regarded as required reading on marketing (and life) by many — and can be read online for free or you can buy the book The Boron Letters.

I bring up this first Boron Letter today because it highlights something important we don’t talk about enough: learning curve. Specifically, the ability of your mind and body to adapt to being pushed REALLY hard. 

In business, you wouldn’t want to make a huge decision on a single data point. You’ve probably even heard someone say, “two points make a trend.” to illustrate this. That definition of a trend isn’t entirely true, but the idea that two data points (preferably more) is better than one still holds.

So here’s what you need to do — start telling people (yourself included) to try things twice before writing them off as too hard…

When I started taekwondo with my son, the first class brought me closer to physically breaking down than almost anything I’ve ever done. It took the full week to (mostly) recover before I went back and did it again…

… and you know what?

It got a little bit easier the second time. 

You could argue there was nowhere to go but up (and I’d probably agree with you).

Or you could argue how impressive human brains are when it comes to adapting to something new, whether mental or physical. 

The key is to get your brain to begin the adapting process, you have to make up your mind and commit that you’re doing whatever thing twice no matter how terrible it feels or how embarrassingly bad you look… 

This is a good time to disclaim I’m no doctor nor have I even taken a class on neuroscience… but I’d put money on results of what I just described if I were a gambling man. 

Here’s something else you might want to do twice, read my book: Corporate Ladder University (email me if you prefer a pdf e-book version). I’ve started to go back and re-read some of my marketing/writing books from this year’s binge and I picked up way more going through again, so that’s going to be my routine from now on with educational/personal development type books.

Consider that tip a freebie… my gift to you.