Gordon the guided missile sets off in pursuit of its target. It immediately sends out signals to discover if it is on the right course to hit that target. Signals come back: “No, you are not on course. So, change it up a bit and slightly to the left.”
And Gordon changes course as instructed and then, rational little fellow that he is, sends out another signal. “Am I on course now?” Back comes the answer, “No, but if you adjust your present course a bit further up and a bit further to the left, then you will be.” He adjusts his course again and sends out another request for information. Back comes the answer, “No, Gordon, you’ve still got it wrong. Now you must come down a bit and a foot to the right.”
And the guided missile goes on and on making mistakes, and on and on listening to feedback and on and on correcting its behavior until it blows up the nasty enemy thing. And we applaud the missile for its skill.
If, however some critic says, “Well, it certainly made a lot of mistakes on the way”, we reply, “Yes, but that didn’t matter, did it? It got there in the end.” All its mistakes were little ones, in the sense that they could be immediately corrected. And as a result of making many hundreds of mistakes, eventually the missile succeeded in avoiding the one mistake which really would have mattered: missing the target.
The story of Gordon the Guided missile is a great analogy to many of the endeavors we will pursue in life. If we are unwilling to make mistakes and adjust course, we are less likely to achieve what we set out to do. The key is to get started and allow the little mistakes you make along the way inform you of what changes you need to make to ensure a better future. Too many people are too afraid to get started in the first place for fear of making mistakes. Another group is willing to get started but then unwilling to make course corrections when necessary due to stubbornness or ego. You can find tremendous success if you are willing to be in the third group. The group that is willing to get started no matter how scared they are. The group that is willing to make adjustments to make sure they stay on track and aren’t too stubborn to change. This is the group that hits the eventual target.
