What Tossing Paper in a Bin Can Teach Us About Success and the Need to or Lack thereof to set Goals.
There’s a strange magic that happens when you toss a piece of paper across the room into a trash can. You crumple it up. You glance at the bin. You flick your wrist.
And you Swish it almost every time. Yep, Nailed it without even thinking.
You really do not need some x and o training on how to run the play. I am sure you do not need a coach but there are probably people that can convince you that you do. You just need to let the instinct work.
Ironically, if you do try too hard and if you tense your arm or overcorrect your aim and maybe analyze the wind resistance from the ceiling fan you’ll probably miss. At least you will hesitate and maybe never throw it from a far distance but instead walk over and place it neatly in the bin.
Uh Oh - Detour.
This is what I call The Trash Can Theory:
There are moments in life when trying to think about it less works better.
Some things don’t require effort they require some inner direction.
We’re Not Wired to Overthink Everything
What makes tossing paper into a bin so successful at least some of the time is that it taps into unconscious competence. Your brain and body know what to do. They’ve done it a thousand times. You do not have to think about elbow angles or parabolic trajectories or even the real calculus that is involved. You just need to move. In golf which I used to play a fair bit, I found that reacting to putts was easier for me. I did not deep read, I looked and found a line and traced it quickly to an aiming spot and just let it go. I was just doing.
The same applies in business. In love for sure and In leadership and In life.
Some of your most important decisions won’t come from forced or researched planning. They’ll come from noticing a moment, acting intuitively, and being present enough to respond and execute. Once we know what to do, those that spend less time thinking about why not and executing win the race. Those that cannot react, over-engineer and over think before the first move are miles behind already.
But Wait—Isn’t Success Supposed to Be Hard?
We’ve been fed the myth that all success is supposed to feel like a grind and a plan that has to be measured and turned in at the end of each day. In working out if it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t count. If it’s not measured and tracked then is it even real? Remember to plan SMART.
But what if that’s just… wrong?
It could be the doing a lot does not mean getting a lot done. Yes it is true. Doing the right thing is the step. To me, it is finding the way to focus like a laser on a small think that works and amplifies to bigger things in time.
Of course, this doesn’t mean effort is useless. There’s a time for rigor. There’s a time to go deeper into thought to find direction and to prepare and revise the path. But remember the compass still has to point you. But if your default setting is always maximum effort and visibility branding and being the smartest in the room and showing everyone you are……it might be worth asking why.
Don’t get me wrong. It matters but you know it doesn’t. I like Scottie.
Because sometimes the best results come when we stop gripping so tightly.
When we trust our instincts. When we make the throw, or swing or release the clube, but we also know what it is for. It is not because we’re certain, but because we’re ready enough.
When You’re Over-Working, It Shows
We all know what over-working looks like. Like this. You are doing a lot but not getting a lot done!
You’re trying. Really trying. Too much. Perhaps you are working on the wrong things.
You’re writing and deleting the same email seventeen times or You’re stuck on a decision, replaying every scenario in your head. Worse you are not actually working at all because you are not aligned to the goal you set or that someone set for you.
Trying is not bad. Trying the wrong thing is. Trying what someone else programmed for you because like Tom Ferry that never sold a dang thing but think they can tell you how? is working his next endorsement deal with Follow Up Boss?
And the more energy you pour into “figuring it out,” reading others the more likely it is that you’re cutting yourself off from the very instincts that could move you forward. Do you think that coaches get coached for ever?
So What Do You Do Instead?
You stop gripping and let er rip. At some point you have to throw the paper, walk down stairs or take the dang putt.
You return to the simple truth:
Some things don’t require more effort. They require less interference.
Think about how many areas of your life would open up if you loosened your grip just a bit. What if your job wasn’t to push harder, but to more clear and have less clutter around your effort? What if success didn’t always require a MAP, but a compass?
When you walk down stairs, you don’t instruct your knee to flex at 43°.
When you toss that paper toward the bin, you don’t measure your release velocity.
You know. You move. You trust.
That’s not lazy. That’s evolved. Yes practice. If you do 26 push ups a day everyday it will lead somewhere.
You have to be wired to know what to do and just do it. For us in Real Estate we know we want to help people find great homes or bring great homes to the market for our buyers to evaluate for their families.
What is our goal? To toss the paper in the trash can. To do it. To Engage. To have one good conversation a day. Not to Sell XY or Z homes per year or to get a buyer to agree to sign a brokerage agreement only to have em disappear. One good conversation a day. Is that a goal? Probably. Is it 5 year planning. Probably Not. Will it land the paper in the can! yes it will. Walking down stairs is simple.
Try This
Pick one area of your life where you’re applying too much effort. Clear out the clutter. If you need to make a phone call make it.
Is it Work, parenting, fitness, relationships, business doesn’t matter. Whatever you feel you are forcing or not doing or planning for too much just do that one thing. I rode my bike 4 miles today. My thought is simple. Ride the bike every day. How far? who cares. Go do it.
Now ask:
Am I trying to control every variable? Why am I measuring every outcome?
Am I mistaking thinking about 10 things as progress when not even doing one thing?
What would this look like if it were simple?
What if I just let go of the crumpled paper?
You might find that all the striving has actually become paralysis.
That your real power isn’t in the over-analysis, but in the quiet move you already know how to make. One thing do it now. And repeat it and see where it leads. If you do 26 push ups today and no more for a year that is silly. Do it everyday. What are the things?
Sometimes, the most important thing you can do is stop aiming so hard and just throw.