Fear, skepticism and stubbornness are necessary for entrepreneurs. These things keep you between the ditches and make sure the company you’re driving stays on all four wheels. Questioning the wisdom of each action and assuming the worst possible outcome are things we obsess about and spend sleepless nights contemplating.
“…the terrible and the terrific spring from the same source, and that what grants life its beauty and magic is not the absence of terror and tumult but the grace and elegance with which we navigate the gauntlet.” – Maria Popova
When considering solutions, two words tend to come up repeatedly—can’t and won’t.
Can’t is when you are physically, spiritually, operationally, or structurally unable to do something—you don’t have the option to do it.
You can’t fly, see through walls, or run as fast as a car without mechanical advantages (or Kryptonian genes).
Won’t means there is a decision being made. The decider has some optionality. They can choose to do something or not.
I could go run a marathon but I won’t because it seems really hard, and I get winded going to the refrigerator.
As entrepreneurs find themselves making important decisions, won’t is often misrepresented as can’t.
Can’t is easy to say. Can’t is easy to justify and explain. Can’t ends the conversation. Can’t means you will likely take fewer risks, endure fewer setbacks and in the process, find justification in that risk-mitigating approach.
Won’t can be painful. Won’t is much harder to admit. Won’t is the honest answer most of the time. As entrepreneurs, we sometimes live in won’t but call it can’t.
Won’t limits risk like can’t, but there is far more sincerity and self-awareness in won’t. We had the choice and decided we wouldn’t do it. We considered the opportunity and decided not to do it even though we could.
Won’t can be the right answer but we don’t like categorizing it that way. We are more comfortable telling ourselves and others it can’t be done. Won’t begs for debate and further consideration and we should be more willing to engage in that discussion.