Success often hinges on avoiding unforced errors. Here’s how to do it.

What’s the cause of unforced errors in life and work? Not stopping to think. Going so fast that you don’t see the looming pothole until you hit it. When asked why they did something stupid, the commonest thing people say is: “It seemed like such a good idea at the time.” It did — because all they saw were their dreams of success, and they didn’t slow down enough to notice the risks that went along with them.

Today’s leadership role models tend to be aggressive by nature. They prefer the spectacular win over any series of small gains, even if it comes with far more risk. They want to be known as ‘winners’, not people who play safe. And, like all who have the power to recruit others, they tend to choose people in their own image: people whose strengths and weaknesses are very like their own. You can think of this like the emphasis on successful stock-picking that flew around before the dot-com bust. The supposed masters of this art were widely imitated, even though all the evidence is that even the most dedicated and professional of them cannot beat the market over the long term.

The truth is far more prosaic: in nearly every human activity, success depends more on avoiding unforced errors than flashes of brilliance. The one who doesn’t mess up, wins. The brilliant risk-taker produces occasional miracles, but they’re often out-weighed by all the mistakes that come along with that approach. Look back on your own career for a moment. Some of the bad times certainly won’t have been your fault; chance plays a huge part in events, personal and organizational. But how many times did you make some mistake that you know was perfectly avoidable — if only you’d seen it in time? How many unforced errors have caused you embarrassment, loss of credibility, or even more serious career set-backs?

The heart of the problem

Here’s the problem: Many successful people lose all their gains on subsequent actions and ventures into the unknown. They’re influenced more by their past success than rational estimates of what may lie ahead. They get delusions of grandeur. They rush into more risks than they can handle. They don’t stop to think and miss the obvious.

They also know that everyone else is watching them to see if they can pull it off a second time. Most high achievers fear failure — it’s what drove them to push so hard to win — and they fear it even more when it’s likely to take place publicly. They have to win and win again. Yet each big win brings the likelihood of a crash closer, even as it starts to lose its luster. For habitual winners, who are simply expected to win again, the only way to stay in the limelight is to make each win bigger and more risky than the last. It may make for good entertainment, but it’s a crazy way to run a business — or a career.

Why do so many people do it? Because they have been taught it’s the only way.

Five questions to keep you safe

Before jumping in, slow down and ask yourself these five questions. They’ll save your credibility — and your ass — nearly every time:

1. What assumptions am I making? Many, many unforced errors come from failing to recognize that certain assumptions are critical to a successful outcome. If you don’t spot the assumptions, you won’t test them to see if they’re valid. If they prove not to be, they’ll screw up all your efforts in a New York minute and you’ll look really, really stupid.

2. What is so obvious I’m not seeing it? Here’s a great example I picked up from the web. Someone was showing a visitor from a Third World country around a small town in America. They drove to a bank and stopped at the ATM in the drive-through section. The driver, hoping to impress the visitor, explained how the instructions were even printed in Braille alongside the written version. When the visitor roared with laughter, the driver was naturally miffed. “What’s funny about that?” the driver asked. “How many blind people are driving on the roads in America?” was the response. Duh!

3. What do I know, but am not acknowledging? It’s amazing how often people know what is likely to happen, but choose to shut their eyes to it. Facing your fears is usually the best way to overcome them. Taking time to consider what bad things could happen is the best way to avoid them. Closing your mind to anything except success is like driving with your eyes shut — it’s just a matter of time before you have an accident. The only question is how bad it will be.

4. If I hadn’t already committed myself, would I start this now? If I wasn’t already involved, would I still choose to be? Sometimes, the best option is to get out and put up with any embarrassment that causes you. It’s bound to be better than staying on a ship going full steam ahead for the rocks.

5. Is trying harder truly going to make any difference? It used to be said that all English people abroad followed the same sequence in dealing with a non-English-speaking foreigner: first, speak slower; then make suitable gestures; finally, shout. If that fails, shout louder. That’s what people do with projects that are going wrong: they keep on keeping on, trying harder and harder. Sadly, if the problem is intractable at the start, that won’t help one bit. Remember the saying about flogging a dead horse? Most companies are full of people flailing away madly at dead or dying beasts. Don’t join them.

Nothing can save you from mistakes like slowing down to think can. Nothing will push you into more of them than failing to do so. It’s your choice.

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