The Q Factor

There’s something you’ve walked away from that you wish you hadn’t. Or something you gave up on, not because it wasn’t working, but because it didn’t work fast enough.

Far from a Derren Brown mind trick, this is a ubiquitous experience. What if…

Daniel Pink, in The Power of Regret, surveyed over 26,000 people and found that the most common regrets weren’t mistakes made. They were the chances never taken. 

“I played it too safe.”
“I didn’t take enough risks.”
“I phoned it in.”

Not taking enough shots.

Talent doesn’t disappear with age. Belief does. In its absence, regret grows.

There’s an assumption that youth contains something inherently special in terms of success. You likely know it yourself: growing up, your future contained all kinds of audacious outcomes to earn money from something impractical, to change the world or rewrite history.

Then, as life proper emerged, and success didn’t fall into your lap, you cauterised those parts of your ideal self as a form of protection.

Grit & Glory

Young people tend to find success more often because, quite simply, they’re willing to fail. Repeatedly. In fact, it’s expected of them.

Hungarian network scientist Barabási found this truth in the data, studying breakthroughs by scientists, artists and entrepreneurs. On the surface, when plotting success by age, younger people are more likely to succeed.

But when adjusting the data for productivity – how many shots people took, how often they tried – that pattern disappeared. The real driver of success isn’t age, timing or talent: It’s output.

“To make a long story short…every project we do, has exactly the same chance of being our personal best. Like a lottery ticket. The more we buy, the higher is the chance. And it happens to be that most buy most of their lottery tickets in the first 10, 15 years of their career.”

Barabási distilled his findings into a simple equation: S = Qr.

S being the success of an endeavour; “the essentially random quality of the underlying idea, symbolised by ‘r’; “and the ability of the creator to actually bring ideas to fruition,” which he calls the Q-factor.

Because success and performance aren’t the same thing. Performance is individual. Success is when that performance connects with the world. You can do everything right and still be overlooked. That doesn’t mean you stop. It means you line up again and try. You take another shot.

The Q-factor is the differentiator between those who succeed and those who don’t. Each effort is a lottery ticket. Some people get lucky on their first try, or in their first couple of months. Most don’t.

As we age, we protect ourselves from failure. Responsibilities and realism set in to justify inaction over attempts. Trying and failing feels more shameful than it used to. There’s more on the line. That’s what makes it all the more important.

Leave It All On The Table

Because your dreams never stop mattering; they just stop feeling possible. So you take fewer shots. You sit on the bench. You leave the pitch. At a certain point, you hang up the boots for good.

You can park your potential in the name of practicality. That’s a choice. It’s also entirely in your power to keep going.

You’d never stop moving your body for a year and expect to feel strong. Why do we expect to stop moving spiritually and stay fulfilled?

Ever heard of the G4 Cube? MobileMe? NeXT? AppleLisa? No. You know the iPhone, though. All were projects led by Steve Jobs. That’s the Q-factor at work.

What If It All Goes Right?

This isn’t a piece in defence of hustle porn. This is about fulfilment.

We’re not suggesting you get five hours' sleep each day so you can wake up before sunrise to graft on your athleisure for XL bullies project. This is a reminder that the barriers in front of you actualising your potential are self-made.

It’s about leaving this life without a long list of “what ifs.”

It’s reminding you that whatever that thing is, the one you can’t stop thinking about, deserves to leave your mind and enter into the world. 

Yes, life is exhausting. It’s embarrassing when things don’t go to plan. It’s vulnerable to try. But what’s the alternative? Either risk success or guarantee regret. That’s the trade.

No book, no quote, no podcast will kick the ball for you. You have to take the shot.

Not once. Not just when it’s easy. But again. And again. And again.

Because the only way to guarantee you won’t score is to stop shooting.