Get out on the wire.

Seth Godin made a good point on his blog about two hours ago. It's not a new point, or a complex one, but that, I guess, is why it's good. Here it is, paraphrased by me:

There is all the difference in the world between the people who attempt things and people who don't. People who attempt things succeed. People who don't, don't.

That's it.

It's been expressed many, many different ways by many, many different people. For example, let's use the metaphor of the high wire. Papa Wallenda, scion of the Flying Wallenda family, and one of the most famous highwire artists ever, put it like this:

Life is on the wire. The rest is just waiting.

The same point was also made by a vastly different source, the rock band Counting Crows, in their beautiful, bottomlessly sad song Goodnight, Elisabeth:

Me, I say my prayers, then I just light myself on fire
And I walk out on the wire once again.

If there was one single point I could drive into the heads of my clients, each and every one of them, that would be it. Get out there. Just do it. Try something. Get out there. Engage with your market. See what happens. Get out there.Try to sell something, develop a new relationship, make something happen. Get out there.

I have seen countless businesses die, countless firms stumble, countless people hit a professional brick wall because they couldn't, or wouldn't, do this. it's awful to see. It's like watching someone who's really overweight get in the line at the supermarket with a cart full of ice cream and candy. Or getting drunk with someone who's a hard-core alcoholic (I have actually done this -- it is a very odd experience). Or having a good friend get romantically involved with someone you absolutely know is really, really bad news. Again.

These things are all variations on the same theme.

Get. Out. There.