Examples? Sure. I have heard complaints of others "taking all my clients", or "getting all the jobs", and the self limiting refrain of "I can't compete with (fill in the blank... price, luxurious studio, cool equipment). Zero Sum thinking.
It starts by accepting a flawed viewpoint as a fact. There is only so much success allotted to our profession and if so and so gets his, someone else had to lose theirs. When you accept that postition, you become desperate to "get yours" or maybe fixate on those that have already achieved success as taking too much of the allotted pie. (Listen to people talk about the successful in their industry. Are they excited for those who have achieved success, or jealous/angry/resigned.)
I believe that success is never a Zero Sum game. There is no "pie" with only "x" amount of slices to capture. And when I capture an additional slice, I had to take it from someone else. Rather I believe that success can breed success, that a rising tide of success in an industry can raise all boats in that harbor. I sincerely want everyone who decides to do something to do it well, and become successful and happy.
Happiness is one of the first casualties of Zero Sum thinking. When the worldview is based upon the conflict of someone capturing all of the success, leaving so many on the wayside without theirs, the world becomes so much more frightening.
Does this mean that success should be easy and granted to everyone who simply asks? Of course not. You still have to refine and define your work, get better at it, promote it, work deep in to the night, gain as many clients as you can, lose as few as possible, market, write, shoot, blog.... On and on. Success isn't a birthright, it is an achievable point to those who earn it. And your success will be built on your work, not the failure of others, or to their diminishment.
(What about competition, dude, there's always folks trying to gain an advantage and take my market share - ed.) Yes. That's called the marketplace. It can be a rough and tumble place to be. But the marketplace is real. It is a battle of service/price/availability/marketing/reach/personality. It's challenges are real and varied. Zero Sum thinking is a head game that makes competing in the real world so much harder because it changes your view to one of "limited opportunity". With the natural battles of the marketplace, why would you tie the anchor of Zero Sum around your waist as you wade in to do fight for your own success?
Read the whole thing....
Digital Rules By Rich Karlgaard: "It is not AIDS or Avian Flu.
It is a monstrously flawed idea.
The sickest thinking and the source of human misery throughout the ages is based on a belief that:
1. The earth is running out of resources
2. People consume more than they contribute
3. Wealth is a zero sum distribution game"
1 comment:
Great post ... I totally agree, there is more than enough for anybody willing to put the time and effort into there passion.
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