Entrepreneurs can’t ‘dowbet’ themselves
“Chris, can you start where Mary Beth left off ?”
Sitting in a hot portable my first year of high school, my religion teacher Miss Thews asked me this simple question. I wasn’t worried. I was sure I could take the torch from Mary Beth. After all, I had done it a hundred times before without a single blunder. I looked down at my textbook and started to read out loud. I can’t remember the exact sentence that changed everything, but I remember the word. Like hitting a rock on a smooth road with your bike, I read “doubt” out loud and fell flat on my face.
“Dowbet.” Dowbet? That’s not even a word! The classroom erupted in laughter and I sunk in my chair. “Oh. Chris, the b is silent.” What I wanted to say was “Yes, Miss. You obviously can’t tell by the horror on my face at this very moment, but I have come to realize the b is silent. I’m not sure who decided that was a good idea, but rest assured I do now know that the b is as silent as they come”. What came out of my mouth though was “Sorry. Can I get a bathroom pass please?”
That single moment traumatized me for the rest of high school. I would commonly use the “I have a sore throat today” excuse when it was my turn to read aloud. I even set up private meetings with my teachers letting them know there was no way I could present in front of the class. As Abe Lincoln so brilliantly put it: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.” Or in my case, all dowbet.
In my experience being doubtful of ones’ self is the worst quality an entrepreneur can possess. The unknown is a risky place to do business, and without confidence, you’ll quickly find yourself achieving next to nothing. And I’ve also come to realize that validation is the mother of doubt. See, it wasn’t that I made the mistake in saying the word that bothered me, it was that I cared about the laughter.
Over time I have taught myself to ignore the mockers, deafen the doubters, and only care about validation from the ones closest to me. Now, I’m not perfect. Every once in a while that little bit of laughter gets through. And it hurts. But unlike my high school experience, it’s anything but immobilizing.
Recently I was asked to speak at an international conference in Atlanta. Was I nervous? Of course. Was I excited? One thousand times more. I knew my stuff and I didn’t need anyone to validate that.
When I got up in front of that large room filled with unfamiliar f aces and looked around I remembered that moment in Grade 9. I remembered the laughter of ev- ery classmate. I remembered that one little pebble I hit in the road. But I stood there and thought, “Farias. You got this.” Then I kicked the crap out of that presentation.
So to you class of 1999, Miss Thews and old Abe Lincoln; It’s better to speak and to be heard than to let a silent b fill you with dowbet. Back to you Mary Beth.