The Power of Making Wrong Decisions

You're here because you have already achieved some outer success as a business owner and it feels great, but something is missing. You are way ahead of most but not yet where you are supposed to be. There’s something more for you in business and in life, but are unsure of how to get there.?

The strategies, skills, and methods that got you to this point, will probably not take you further.

Or the approaches you've used so far may have been expensive in terms of time, energy, stress, and impact on your relationships. You need a different approach if you want your success to be sustainable long term.?

The Iconic CEO Newsletter introduces a different way of doing things so you can forget about forcing things to succeed and work smarter to thrive. Scientific studies demonstrate that high-level success requires mastery and alignment in many areas. Psychology, physiology, language, and thought patterns, are some of the underlying elements involved in achieving world-class success.

The Iconic CEOs embody the qualities of the most successful leaders, in harmony and growing in all aspects of their businesses and lives.?

The three essential areas to become an Iconic CEO are your Identity (the mindset frame we use in business and in life), a clear winning strategy (removing all guesswork & overwhelm), and a successful set of habits and workflows (to guarantee business & life growth regardless of the external circumstances)?

This week we are looking at…

The Power in Making The Wrong Decisions

In my latest post on #LinkedIn I shared the sequence of "wrong" decisions that led me to where I am today. (no need to rush and check it, I will share it here again with you)

3 years ago someone asked: "What is your biggest failure in life, Carlos?"

I had to stop and think, I realized failure is a word that I don't use in the first person ever. I have fu@%ed up more times than I would like to accept, and I didn't succeed at most of the things I tried... But "failure"?

You can only fail when you stop trying, so to me, every mistake provides a valuable learning lesson, and every setback, the opportunity to rise higher.

When you don't have a word in your language, the fear we link to that word, disappears as well.

This week I’m exploring the best way I have come across to allow you to progress in life or in business, fast and without questioning your decisions or not taking them at all.

A bit of my story:

At 18 I made the wrong career choice. I wanted to be a musician or a nutritionist since those were two of my biggest passions. But my dad told me that these were not profitable careers.?

My grades were excellent, I could choose any university or degree I wanted so I finally decided to enroll in one of the best Engineering Universities in Spain.

It was kinda exciting to be an "Engineer", but I had no idea what this entitled. I loved learning and my days at UNI. I did have a little too much fun, to be honest, but I finally got my degree and was ready to join corporate and make it to "the promised land"

The promised land wasn't there... Making the wrong career choice, also led me to get the "wrong" corporate job. It was the best choice at the time, but not something I would do now, not something I was passionate about or that I could enjoy doing long term.?

I made a decision based on the wrong information, and after 5 years on the job, I was extremely burnout and suffering from anxiety. To the point, I ended up in hospital in the intensive care unit, almost dead from a heart attack.

?But it was actually that near-to-death experience that actually made me change the trajectory of my life, I quit my job, left my girlfriend, family, and friends behind, and went on to travel the world. I needed to discover myself and find out what was going to make me happy instead of finding what would "make me money".?

I ended up in Sydney, Australia, without a word of English and the biggest will to thrive in every way I could. I was "forced" to become proficient in English and I needed to do it fast. Little did I know at the time, that learning English was going to be THE BEST thing that ever happened to me.

With English, I had now access to a world of knowledge and people that were totally out of my reach before. This was like being a kid in a candy store, and I could pick anything I wanted and all for free. Information was flowing my way in every possible type and form.?

I would read books, watch documentaries, and listen to audiobooks in English that didn’t even exist in Spanish, I was in awe!?

Also thanks to my newly acquired English communication skills, I could connect with new people almost everywhere in the world. And it was one of these people who would help me build my first 100% online coaching business.?

I made in 12 months 15 times more than my yearly salary during my 9-5 days as an engineer. $500K in a year, I was blown away!!! I was finally independent, both financially and location-wise. I could literally not believe it!?

The Income, the Impact, and the Freedom I always dreamt about came to me in a totally unexpected way.

And it all started making one big wrong decision remember??

Not only that one I made, but I also pride myself on making LOTS of mistakes, I am an engineer after all and I feel the need to “try stuff” and this comes sometimes with "expensive consequences".

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In my personal life, all these fast decisions, some right, and some wrong also had a massive impact. I broke things, disappointed people, had to say sorry multiple times, and even ask for forgiveness. But nothing compares to the amount of “life” that came out of always moving and stepping out of my comfort zone. ?

And don’t get me wrong, I never hurt anyone, but I live my life in my own way. And this sometimes makes some people “uncomfortable”?

At some point, I met my wife, who at the time was living in Russia, and the only reason we could get together and find love in my 40s was that I was again, location independent and I could speak English.

With my business, I get to help hundreds of business owners around the globe get out of burnout and into "strategic growth", and live their lives better while building an iconic business that is aligned with their mission and purpose.?

I don’t help people with things I haven’t done myself before, I always test the process well before giving the final "recipe" to anyone, that’s what Engineers do! And this requires lots of trial and error, fast decisions, and mistakes, and I do it proudly.?

Thanks to all these wrong decisions and mistakes, I am now feeding and taking care of 5 families in India in one of the poorest areas in the world, funding projects of entrepreneurs in developing countries, and contributing to Doctors without Borders.?

I can say that “yesterday” I materialized all the dreams I once had and believed impossible and that today I have a new and exciting horizon I am working towards. As Robin Sharma says, the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next one for me, success is never owned and growth never stops.?

If it wasn’t for the fast decisions and “wrong” choices I made in the past, I would’ve never gotten where I am today. It saddens me to see how many people live mediocre lives or way too far from reaching their full potential because they are scared to “fail”?

Scared to make the “wrong decisions” which turns out to be fear of making any decision at all most of the times. Hoping that you will always make the right decisions is delusional, and just an excuse to keep yourself wherever you are right now in business and in life.?

And in the meantime, your life is slipping through your fingers and it will NEVER come back.?

At the end, the sum of wrong and right decisions together draw your timeline in the best way possible, only if you allow life to happen, trust the process and embrace the journey.

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Wherever you are right now, is exactly where you are meant to be, but the next step forward is your responsibility.

If you don’t move, nothing will ever happen. You are just one step away from a completely different life, what is the worst that could happen??

Death is everyone’s final destination, but while we are still alive, let’s embrace the journey and make mistakes fast, the faster you get through the wrong decisions, the quicker you will make the right ones.?

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My advice on making decisions:?

1.- Don’t rush to jump on every opportunity that comes your way, measure the risk and go ahead when it feels right. Listen to yourself.?

2.- Check on yourself often: Am I being bold enough to live a wonderful life or am I operating from the warmth of my comfort zone??

3.- Remember that the biggest risk of all is risking nothing??

Make your life ICONIC! It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s going to be a life worth sharing!?

I hope that helps and inspires you to step up and enjoy your life a bit more.?

My gift to you for this week:

1.- We are launching a Special Iconic CEO TEDx program next week. We are looking for 5 people that would like to be on a TEDx stage. We can guarantee a TEDx talk for 5 candidates.?

If you think you could be one of those 5, reach out to me on DM or just book a call here: https://www.theiconicceo.com/booking ?

2.- If you're looking for this "missing link" or the step to take to get to that next level of success with your business, avoid burnout and enjoy your life fully, take this free Iconic CEO 360 Assessment https://www.theiconicceo.com/360

Next week you can’t miss:

In next week’s Iconic CEO Podcast LinkedIn Live, I will be giving away 10 copies of my book “Organic Client Secrets” where I share the exact strategy I used to build a million-dollar coaching business from scratch in under two years. Including access to my online platform with the video training.?

Join us here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6950345252498997248/ ?

If you haven’t yet, follow me on LinkedIn here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/theiconicblueprint/

With love and respect,

Carlos Adell